


We Should Probably Do Something About This

by blagapoyt



Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Bickering, Hijinks & Shenanigans, How Do I Tag, Tokkori's snark, author has no graps on these characters, implied/referenced trauma, it's only teen and up for the occasional swear, world swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27607819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blagapoyt/pseuds/blagapoyt
Summary: kirby finds himself in Dreamland but not the one he knows.in which the the kirbies of the game and anime universes get switched places and they have to figure out how to get back to their own world, but not without a distraction or two.
Comments: 30
Kudos: 100





	1. Tomatoes

**Author's Note:**

> it's my first fanfic! this thing isn't beta-read, also i'm shit with capitalization, sorry. the entire fic is about 21000 words so it's not that big, but i had fun! now comes the Worst part: thinking of titles.

What a nice day, Kirby thought. The sky was clear and birds were chirping… Wow they were having a field trip with that. It just got louder and louder…

Kirby opened his eyes to a yellow bird screaming something in his face. He was in his bed, not yet awake enough to process what it was saying, but boy was it mad. Kirby pulled the blanket over his head(that is to say, the other half of his body) and tried to ignore the noise. To no avail it seems. Kirby was now awake enough to be mad at whatever kept him awake in the morning. 

“Get out of bed, you lazy bum! First you steal my home and then you go back to sleeping in your house?! Make up your mind!!”

Kirby threw the sheets off of him,

“Aaggh! What is it!”

The bird immediately stopped in his tracks. Eyes wide, he responds,

“Since when have you been able to talk?”

“Since forever?” Kirby was confused. Did he know this bird? Why does he think he can’t talk? “What do you mean, “steal your house”? This is my house!” he looked around. The dome-shaped home looked off. Things were misplaced and certain pictures were missing from his walls. It was certainly still his home, though. He doesn't know anyone else in dreamland with a house like his.

“Geez, are you the same Kirby I know? I gotta tell this to Fumu!” he flies out of an open window past the bed, leaving behind a bewildered and tired Kirby.

He decided he couldn’t sleep anymore, so he was going to take out his colored pencils! Only, he didn’t know where they were. They were usually in the drawers next to the fireplace, but it wasn’t there anymore. He looked under the bed and in the (empty) fridge, but there were no pencils to be found. Now that he took a closer look, a lot more things were different! Furniture was missing and moved. There were framed pictures of people he didn’t know and his treasures from his cave adventure aren’t on top of the fireplace! Maybe this wasn’t his house after all? How could he have stepped into someone else’s house? The bird knew his name, which he found odd considering he’d never seen him before. 

A voice came from outside, accompanied by the sound of soft footsteps in grass. Then, a girl with a ponytail walked inside, accompanied by the bird from earlier,

“What is this about an impostor?” she turned from him to Kirby, “Kirby do you have any idea what Tokkori is saying?”

He looks at the bird, Tokkori, and back at the girl.

“I don’t even know who that is,” he says with confusion dripping from his voice, “and I’ve never seen you before, either. How do you know my name?

With the same diluted, wide eyes as Tokkori’s, the girl looks at him. Then puts a hand to the bridge of her nose,

“I must be dreaming. You know, it might be a nice change of pace to finally understand what you’re saying. I’ll take advantage of this dream to finally ask you: What's your favorite food?”

Even more confused than before he answers her question, “uh, tomatoes? Why would you not understand what I’m saying? Would you please explain what’s happening?”

Tokkori speaks up, “See, this is what I’m talking about. First he can talk fluently, and now he’s claiming he doesn’t know us!”

“Maybe it’s not a dream after all. The rabbit with the neon colored hat and cane hasn’t arrived yet..” the girl says like a rabbit with a neon colored hat and cane is a common occurrence in her dreams, “don’t you remember me? It’s Fumu!”

Kirby searched his mind for someone named Fumu but nothing came up. Has he forgotten about a friend? 

“I’m sorry. I don’t know.” Fumu looks heartbroken for a moment, but shakes it off and determinedly says,

“Maybe it’s a star warrior thing. Let’s go talk to sir Meta Knight, Tokkori.”

“Why should I come?“ Tokkori says, ”I have no problem with Kirby not remembering me. Maybe I can finally go back to my own house.”

Kirby lit up at the mention of Meta Knight. Finally someone he knows! He wasn’t going crazy after all!

“Meta Knight? You know him? Let’s go then!” Kirby runs out the door ahead of the two before-strangers until he realizes he doesn’t know where he is! This isn’t where his house used to be.

“Which way is it?” he asks Fumu.

“Come, I'll walk you. And in the meantime, you have some explaining to do, not-Kirby.”

The first thing Kirby explains is that his name is not not-Kirby.

***

The road is pretty long but doable. They go through a town full of people that vaguely look like cappies.

“You remember?” Fumu asks.

“No, they just remind me of some friends. I’ve never seen them like that before.”

They all greet him by his name when they walk by.

When they arrive at castle Dedede, it looks completely different from the way Kirby remembers it. The inside is a cool cyan and it doesn’t have a face on the front. They pass a big door, out of which a boy with blue-ish hair steps out and greets the three.

“Hey, Fumu. What’s Tokkori doing here? Did we find another link to his ancestry or somethin’?”

“I’m just here to see what the deal is with this weirdo,” Tokkori says, pointing at Kirby.

“Bun, Kirby can suddenly talk! And he doesn’t remember us!” Fumu explains. This boy’s name reminds Kirby of someone… he can’t put a face on it, though.

“Whoah, for real? Kirby, say something funny!” Bun says, turning to him.

Kirby doesn’t really know what can be considered funny in a situation like this, so he just says the first thing that comes up,

“Miso soup.”

Bun collapses laughing, “of course the first thing he says is food!” he says between laughs.

Fumu tugs him along and they keep walking with the occasional giggle from Bun.

When they arrive at a surprisingly unremarkable door, Fumu knocks. A Knight in bright green armor answers the door.

“Blade Knight!” Kirby jumps at another familiar face. He seems surprised to be hugged.

“Sir Meta Knight. It seems we have visitors,” he says calmly.

Meta Knight walks up to the four visitors standing in the doorway. Kirby lets go of blade Knight to hug Meta Knight, who steps away from him when he approaches, so he just jumps up and down instead.

“Meta Knight! You have no idea how happy I am to see y-” his sentence gets cut off quite literally by a familiar sword in his face. He stops jumping and looks at him with more confusion. What is it now? Galaxia shines in front of him as Meta Knight speaks, looking Kirby directly in the eyes,

“Fumu, Bun. Step away. It could be dangerous.” Does Meta Knight not recognize him?

“What are you talking about?” Fumu asks, wanting to intervene. She gets held back by blade Knight.

“It could be some kind of shapeshifting demon beast Dedede summoned.”

“I doubt that. I found him sleeping in his house. He wasn’t like this last night,” Tokkori says.

Bun argues alongside him, “He’s right. Why would Dedede wake up and kidnap Kirby just to swap it with another one? Tokkori would have heard it if something happened!” Kirby wonders if Tokkori lives nearby. There didn’t seem any houses in his house’s vicinity.

“So you’re telling me Kirby just learned to speak overnight?”

“So it’s not supposed to happen?” Fumu asks, “I came to you to ask what was happening! Kirby doesn’t remember anything but you. Not even the way to the castle!”

“I remembered Blade Knight too! And sword Knight!” Kirby looks past Meta Knight to wave at Blade Knight, who waved back, though he looks confused.

Meta Knight’s eyes flash green. 

“Kirby. What is your favorite food?”

“Tomato!” Why do people keep asking, Kirby wonders. It doesn’t matter, because Meta Knight lowers his sword.

“Why would that confirm it’s Kirby?” Bun asks.

“If it was anyone else. They would presumably ask me what it would matter what his favorite food was. Knowing Kirby only thinks about food, it should be enough for now.” 

Kirby lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Fighting Meta Knight wasn’t on his to-do list for today. Though, is it ever?

“Now, tell me about the situation thus far. Let us see what can be done” 

Fumu tells Meta Knight about her morning and how Tokkori flew up to her, screaming about an impostor. When she is done, Meta Knight turns to Kirby,

“What about you, Kirby? What do you remember before last night?”

“You were there, Meta Knight! We were reading a book together! After you left I went straight to bed. After a snack of course.”

The look that Meta Knight gives Kirby is stoic, but he makes up for it by telling him what he’s thinking about,

“It certainly is strange to hear Kirby talk. I would not have imagined his voice any differently,” he chuckles, “however, I do not remember reading to you. Are you sure it was me?”

“Yeah! I’m just confused about everything else. Everything is so different! Why are you living in Dedede’s castle?”

“I always have, Kirby. Where did you think I lived?”

“Hmm. I always thought you lived in the Halbert. But now that I think about it, the Halbert gets busted pretty often,” you laugh. 

Meta Knight’s eyes went big when he heard the name of his battleship. 

“What’s the Halbert, Kirby?” Bun asks, “I’ve never heard of something like that.”

“It’s Meta Knight’s bmhfhbphf” you say when you feel Meta Knight’s glove over your mouth.

“Don’t worry about it, Fumu. It is yet another thing Kirby remembers differently.” he shoots you a glare. You don’t know why you’re not allowed to talk about the Halbert, but knowing Meta Knight will kick your butt if you do is enough to shut you up. He takes his hand off your mouth.

“What about the others? King Dedede? Where is he?” you ask.

Fumu looks worried, “why would you want to see Dedede? Don’t you remember all the awful things he’s done to you?”

“I mean, I guess. But he’s not that bad, is he?”

“It would not be wise to approach his majesty right now. We should investigate further before letting Dedede know,’ Meta Knight says.

“Why? If he’s someone we both know it can only help us, right? He’s helped me lots of times!

Bun puts a hand on your head, “Kirby, Dedede is not someone you can trust. He orders demon beasts from a company called nightmare enterprises in order to beat you. He’s probably the reason this happened in the first place.”

“Nightmare? But I defeated that guy ages ago!”

“What?” Meta Knight asks with a sudden urgent tone, “what do you mean?”

“Don’t you remember? I had to fight you to get the last piece of the star rod.”

“What is he talking about, Meta Knight?” Bun asks.

“I... “ Meta Knight hesitates, '' I do not know. But I have a theory.”

“Great, Meta Knight has a theory everyone, lets pack things up and go home cause this case is closed,” Tokkori unhelpfully adds. Everyone ignores him as Meta Knight continues.

“Either this Kirby is from the future, or from a different timeline altogether.”

“That doesn’t explain why he remembers you but not us, though.” Fumu argues.

“Then the timeline theory is just more plausible I guess,” Bun says, “maybe we don’t exist in his timeline.”

“Good observation, Bun.” Meta Knight turns to kirby, “Who else have you recognized in your walk to the castle?”


	2. I guess it's out of our hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know what's happening either. i just type whatever harold comes up with into a word file. that's my brain's name, by the way. my brain's name is harold and it shows.

“Kirby! Wanna come play with us? Burning Leo says they’ve thought of a new ballgame.” Bandee knocks on Kirby’s door. The person he’s trying to reach is still sound asleep.

“Are you still asleep? I thought you were trying to lose that habit,” he says as he opens the door.

The pink orb in question slowly blinked his eyes open. When he saw a reddish Waddle Dee donning a blue bandana he stepped out of bed.

“Poyo…?” 

The Bandee stared at Kirby, “I know you’re tired but I don’t think I’ve heard that word from you since you were a baby!” or that time he got split into ten pieces, but Kirby looks pretty whole, so that couldn’t be it.

Kirby repeated his exclamation of puzzlement, looking at bandee like he’s never seen him before.

“Kirby, don’t you recognize me?” Kirby looked apologetic, “It’s me, Bandana Dee?”

Kirby tried to repeat the name, but only got a few vowels right, “banadabee…?”

Bandee sighed, “what about ‘Bandee’? Can you say that?”

“Bambee,” Kirby tried.

“Good enough.’ Bandee sighed again, “What is going on with you?”

“Poyo!”

“I’m getting his majesty. You stay here. Or, wait, just come with me.”

###

Dedede poked the babbling puffball as it gobbled up some cake leftovers, “so you’re tellin’ me Kirby suddenly lost his potty training?”

“He didn’t seem to recognize me, though he seems happy to see you, sire,” Bandee says as Kirby hugged Dedede’s arm. “What do you propose we do?”

“Well,” Dedede said, “let’s get the entire gang together first. Wouldn’t want Batman feeling left out, would we?”

***

“Hey, wait! That’s not fair!” Kirby yelled as he ran after the ball.

It was typical of Bun and his friends to play dirty and make Kirby clean up after them when playing. Usually Kirby wasn’t old enough to comprehend that it wasn’t fair to him, but this Kirby is apparently a lot older than this timeline’s is.

Fumu glances at them from her place under a tree but pays them little mind as usual. If this Kirby can stand up for himself it takes a weight off of Fumu’s shoulders.

The things they established back in meta Knights quarters did make sense, with the convoluted timeline stuff. Apparently, this Kirby is better friends with Dedede, though they can still get on each other’s throats, as Kirby worded. They had also already defeated several universal threats, some of which actually turned into friends in the long run. Fumu doesn’t know a lot of these friends of his, but some are actually present in this world, too. Rick, Kine and Coo are all friends of Kirby and so are Fololo and Falala. Some of the demon beasts Dedede has summoned are even actually friendly in Kirby’s world. But when Meta Knight asked about the GSA Kirby didn’t know anything about that. Meta Knight had wrapped his cape around him and avoided any other questions from Kirby on the subject, telling him it was of no importance to him.

Meta knight had told them he and his knights were going to investigate the transportaliser and whether it had been used in the last 24 hours. And maybe find a way to get this Kirby back to his world and their Kirby, now presumably in the other world, back home.

###

“...I have no explanation for this.”

Meta Knight stared at Kirby the same way Dedede did when he found out. The same disbelief and confusion. Dedede, Bandee and Meta Knight were standing in the Halberts main deck. Axe Knight was lurking through a window, probably thinking he was being stealthy. 

“Great. Were out of ideas then," Dedede says. 

"Hold on, we haven't even thought of getting outside help! Kirby has lots of friends who are willing to help him!"

"Yeah, 'cause Magolor would just be devastated that Kirby lost the mental capacity to prevent him from taking over the universe,” Dedede says.

"Bandana Dee has a point. If it were something to do with magic, we would be better off with Taranza or Magolor. Maybe the three mage sisters are willing to help."

"Yeah! Taranza always seemed like a nice guy! Remember when he came down from Floralia to help rebuild the castle after Haltmann invaded?”

Dedede hesitates. He Knows they're gonna need all the help they can get. but why does it have to be any of _them_? 

"okay, let's get Suzie involved then. maybe it's not magic, but really advanced technology. "

"absolutely not." 

"ha! i knew you wouldn't accept that." Dedede points to Meta Knight with one hand and puts the other on his stomach. 

“You just want to be petty. Why don’t you ever try to see the big picture? Kirby needs our help.”

“Oh, i see a big picture alright. It’s about the size of your hypocrisy!”

“This isn’t about me, or you. How in the world would a machine be able to do this?”

“How can you even ask that when you’ve seen what it can do firsthand?” Meta knight flinched at the mention of his experiences with Haltmann Works Compay.

“Don’t bring that up, Dedede. It would be childish, even for you.”

“Why?! It’s the same with Taranza wasn’t it?"

"You weren't even awake when that happened!"

The two just enter a staring contest while Bandee observes in anticipation, but also disappointment in the two. Why can’t they find solace in shared experiences instead of using it against each other?

Eventually, Meta Knight gives. 

".. Alright. I understand that you don't want Taranza for the same reason I don't want Suzanna around." he sighs, "I suppose that in case of us needing technical assistance, we can ask Suzie." 

"Thanks," Dedede says, leaning back as well. He looks up and puts his fists at his sides, "Now, who else can we ask without needing to dig up repressed trauma?" 

***

"What are you three blockheads doin' in my throne room?!" Dedede busts into the room with Escargon trailing closely behind him. 

"Probably trying to order a demon beast of their own," he says. 

"We were just making sure NME hadn't been sending… viruses to your device, your majesty," sword knight says. 

"Viruses? I've already bought one of those," Dedede says. 

"Sire, i think they mean computer viruses. Not the cold virus you ordered some time ago. those are a different kind of virus."

Dedede eyes widen and walks up to the two knights tinkering with the computer. "and what did you find? it better be nothing! I can't afford to buy another transporter!" He would be able to if he wasn't constantly ordering useless demon beasts like that cold virus, Escargon thinks. 

He watches sword knight plugging and unplugging some doohickeys until blade knight stands up and tells Meta Knight, 

"There doesn't seem to be any recent activity in this device, sir." 

Sword knight packs up his box of wires and little screens as meta knight and blade knight walk towards him. 

"Looks like my men have determined you to be safe for now. " Meta Knight starts walking towards the door with said men following after him, "But be careful, your majesty." 

After they leave the two behind, confused and mildly concerned, they head for Fumu and Kirby. Meta Knight starts talking,

"If it wasn't the work of Nightmare, it must have been a force from Kirby's world. From the tales he has told, this Kirby has fought far greater threats than the one ours has so far."

"Does this mean it is out of our hands?" 

"I fear it is, sword knight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know how ao3 works. yes, i read the tutorials. no, i didn't process any of it and fell asleep halfway through the tagging tutorial.


	3. Mages and Meatloaf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (there isn't actually any meatloaf i made that up)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really like making chapter notes it's like screaming into the void.

"kabu! do you know anything about this?" Fumu says, gesturing to Kirby, "do you know how we can get our Kirby back?" 

Kirby, Fumu, Bun, Meta Knight and his Knight are standing in front of a gigantic Kabu. Kabus could get big but Kirby has never seen one this huge!

Fumu can feel kabu's low but ear-ringing voice in her chest as he talks, 

"there are more dire situations that need to be dealt with. situations that are not out of your reach to solve." 

"what is this situation you talk about?" 

"Nightmare enterprises will send powers greater than ever seen before to Popstar. They will arrive shortly."

“Are they sending monsters to dreamland? Do we have to fight them?” Kirby asks. 

“If they are not defeated, dreamland’s safety will be put in jeopardy,” Fumu says.

“I am sorry to ask this of you, Kirby,” meta knight says. His eyes go dark when he points then to the ground, as if he’s closing them. 

Kirby sighs. But shakes it off and looks at Meta Knight and Fumu with a spark in his eyes,

“I’ll protect Popstar. Don’t worry.”

Fumu smiles, “We’ll aid you any way we can.”

Then, Kirby remembers something,

“In that case…” he punctuates his sentence with the sound of his stomach rumbling, “do you have anything to eat?”

###

“Poyo!” Kirby exclaimed as he sat on top of Dedede while they walked to kirby’s house. It had been very hard finding out what was going on with him, what with his inability to communicate any thought more complex than “i will nibble on your cape” or “please give me your sharp and dangerous stick”. The best way so far had been showing kirby things and asking if he recognizes them. The things he remembered seemed notably random. He recognized a cappy when he took off his cap, ironically. When they passed chilly’s house kirby started crying and hugging her, but when he saw a scarfy he hid in Dedede’s hat. Meta knight hasn’t been able to find any relations between the things Kirby remembers.

“This is just aggravating,” Meta Knight says as they walk the last bit to kirby’s abode.

Kirby jumped from Dedede’s head and instead climbed onto Meta Knights, who stopped in his tracks the moment he did.

Dedede 'aww's. "Is that okay with you, Meta Knight?” he asks him.

“Kirby doesn’t even remember your constant need to be professional,” Bandee says, “you don’t want to disappoint him, do you?”

Meta knight sighs and keeps walking like there isn’t a pink puffball on top of his head. Dedede and Bandee giggle as they walk after him.

When Kirby’s house comes into view, they spot a figure at the front door. One with horns and six hands, to be exact. Dedede lost all the color in his face when he realized it was Taranza. 

“Ah! Hello, your majesty. And his Majesty’s Friends. I was afraid Kirby might not have been home.”

“...How long have you been waiting?” Bandee asks.

“Only a few minutes, Don’t worry,” Taranza Says.

“What business do you have with Kirby, if I might ask?” Dedede says with a bit of a hollow voice. Taranza seems to pick up on his tone, but decides not to bring it up and instead answers his question, 

“I want to ask him to hang out in Floralia. I want to show him some of my newest fauna!” he clasps his hands together, closing his eyes in joy, “would any of you be interested as well?”

“We would be, Taranza, but were sorry,” Bandee begins.

“There are more pressing matters at the moment,” Meta Knight says, gesturing to the Kirby on his head, who is curiously staring at Taranza. 

“What’s going on?” Taranza asks, his smile fading.

Bandee decides to demonstrate the situation by taking Kirby from Meta Knights head(to his relief) and puts him in front of Taranza.

“Kirby, say “bandana dee”,” he says to Kirby.

“Banana bee,” Kirby says. Dedede snorts. Bandee glares.

“Sorry,” he laughs, putting a hand in front of his beak to hide his grin.

Taranza watches them with confusion, “...what am I supposed to fathom from this interaction?”

“Kirby suddenly turned back into a baby! He can’t talk and doesn’t remember a lot of things.” Bandee turns to Kirby, “Kirby, do you recognize Taranza?”

Kirby shakes his head. Taranza looks taken aback.

“What? How did this even happen?” He puts a hand to his mouth, one on his head, and another one on Kirby’s.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to find out,” Meta Knight says, “with little luck, I’m afraid.”

“In that case, I’d be happy to help you.”

Dedede laughs uncomfortably, “You don’t have to go through the trouble, really.”

“Please, I insist. I’m good with children,” Taranza says.

“Actually,” Meta knight says, “can you see if any magic might have been used nearby recently? You’re a mage, right?”

“Yeah! Every type of magic leaves behind traces, or indication it’s been there. If I focus I can maybe catch a scent.”

“We’d appreciate it.”

They all step back to give Taranza some space. Everyone falls silent and Taranza makes some gestures while they all observe in anticipation.

“Hmm…” he says after a moment.

“What is it?” Bandee asks.

“Strange is what it is.” He turns to the others, “There certainly are magic traces in the vicinity. "Very intense as well. It’s just… maybe I’m not seeing things right.” He shakes his head.

“Anything you can tell us will be helpful,” Meta Knight says.

“Alright. Its traces aren’t of any noetic or temporal magic. In fact, there’s none of the kind at all! The type I’m sensing is spatial. Like someone opened a portal of some kind. One that’s either really big, or one where the other end is really far away.”

“A portal…?” Dedede wonders what would cause a portal to open, and how that would affect Kirby like this. None of it adds up.

“I know it’s a stretch, but is there a possibility you can recreate the portal using the remnants of it’s magic?”

“With great effort, it is possible. But it’s not up my alley. That is more Magolor’s kind of magic. He’s quite the scientist. He could even recreate the portal with the Lor Starcutter.”

"Well, looks like we have a lead!" Bandee takes his spear from his back and points it at the sky, "Let's go then!"

Kirby makes a victorious noise as the two do a cool pose.

"Do you even know which way we're supposed to go?" Dedede asks.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just tell Magolor to come pick us up with the lor,” Taranza says, taking out a phone from under his cape. Kirby climbs onto Taranza in an attempt to see what he’s doing. He doesn’t seem to know what the little thin box in his hand is supposed to be. Taranza keeps him steady with a hand, while texting magolor with the other,

TARANZA: Magolor!

TARANZA: Are you busy?

MAGOLOR: kind of in the middle of something 

MAGOLOR: but i can squeeze you into my schedule

TARANZA: Yes! Thank you. 

TARANZA: Can you come pick us up?

TARANZA: We’re at kirby’s house right now. 

MAGOLOR: we?

TARANZA: King Dedede and his friends.

MAGOLOR: ah, yes. the beat magolor to a pulp squat

MAGOLOR: why are you all at kirbys

TARANZA: That is actually the thing I want your help with.

TARANZA: I don’t think I could explain it well, you should see it for yourself.

MAGOLOR: this better be good

MAGOLOR: im on my way 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i always thought homestuck writers were exaggerating when they complain about html formatting until i tried to format some chatlogs myself and gave up as you can see.


	4. Why do you smell like that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what are the boundaries between filler and plot

It’s surprisingly warm inside Kabu. But it’s not very bright, Kirby thinks.  
“Whoa. It’s pretty cozy in here.” Kirby looks around the room. The entrance is small, like it was made for Kirby. The ceiling is so high, Kirby couldn’t see it. Fumu, Bun, Meta Knight, Sword Knight and Blade Knight all walked past him down the stairs, making the place quite crowded from his perspective. He spotted a small, glowing object on an important-looking stone between two pillars.  
“What’s that?” Kirby pointed to it with a nubby paw.  
“You don’t know?” Fumu turns to Meta Knight, “How will he be able to ride it if he doesn’t even know what the warp star is?”  
A warp star? Of course he knows what that is, but how would Kirby even ride a little warp star like that?  
“If it really is Kirby, it should be in his nature,” Meta Knight says, letting some of his suspicion leak into the sentence.  
“Hang on, Of course I know what a warp star is! But that thing is so tiny! Is it also a baby like the Kirby from this world?”  
Everyone’s silent for a second. Then, Sword and Blade Knight snicker while Fumu and Bun laugh outright.  
“What’s so funny?” Kirby asks.  
Fumu takes the little star between her fingers, “Just wait and see, Kirby. Let’s go outside.”  
They all go out to the little plaza in front of Kabu. Kirby waits for Fumu in anticipation, who walks a few feet in front of everyone else.  
“Go, warp star!” She Throw the warp star into the sky, where it immediately grows in size and glows twice as bright. it makes a U-turn and heads for Kirby. He gets scooped up and taken into the sky.  
“Looks like the warp star recognizes him as Kirby.” Meta Knight says.  
Kirby stands up from his position on the warp star and tries to steer it. It feels weird, but it’s a warp star alright!  
After he takes it for a ride around the cliffs of Kabu Canyon, he comes back down to the rest of his new friends,  
“this Dreamland is so pretty from the sky! A warp star can really come in handy like this!”  
Meta Knight says, “I noticed you refer to the warp star as “a” warp star. Keep in mind this one is irreplaceable. If something were to happen to it, either you or our Kirby will get hurt.”  
“Well that’s pretty inconvenient. I can summon warp stars pretty much at will!” Kirby doesn’t know where they come from, but when he calls upon a warp star they just appear!  
“Really? Can you summon one now?” Bun asks.  
Fumu interrupts, “Actually, we should start heading back to Cappy town. We don’t know when the enemy will arrive for the attack Kabu was talking about.”

  
###  
When the Lor Starcutter lands, Magolor isn’t there to greet them at the entrance. Instead his voice howls from a speaker, ” Welcome, welcome! Step inside and make sure to wipe your feet at the entrance!”  
“I don’t have feet,” Taranza says under his breath.  
They follow Taranza to Magolor’s office. When the door opens, Kirby runs in, up to Magolor, who was ready to greet them inside like the great host he is. That is, until he spotted Kirby.  
“Augh!!! Get that thing away from me!!” Magolor runs to a corner and pulls his hood over his face, barely avoiding letting out a hiss.  
Dedede grabs Kirby before he can corner Magolor and scare what’s left on him away.  
“Magolor…?” Bandee says.  
“Poyoy…?” Kirby wonders.  
“Calm down, Magolor. I’ve got him here, he won’t come near you. What’s gotten into ya?”  
Magolor peers from under his hood, sees Kirby fastened between two big gloves and stands up. He smooths out his robe and clears his throat,  
“Heh, uh. Sorry about that. But- what is that?” he points to Kirby, who is waving his limbs around between Dedede’s hands.  
“It’s…Kirby?” Bandee says. Has Magolor also been affected by whatever made Kirby lose his memories?  
“Are you suggesting this is not Kirby?” Meta Knight asks him.  
“Yeah, because it sure as hell doesn’t smell like him!”  
Dedede covers Kirby’s ears.  
“Smell??” Bandee asks.  
“Magolor has a keen sense of smell, of magic in particular. He has some traits of what you in Dreamland would call “feline”,” Taranza explains. Dedede speaks up,  
“Wait, those are cat ears? I thought they were horns..”  
Magolor’s cheeks darken as he says, “This isn’t about me! It’s about that Kirby lookalike!”  
“Explain what you mean with smell,” Meta Knight requests.  
“Well Kirby usually smells like…it’s hard to explain.. he smells like pink I guess. This thing still has that smell, vaguely. But it gets way overhauled by the smell of… well he smells like you, Meta Knight. Like, there’s something deeper going on. That his roots are from somewhere dark and grim and… mischievous. From you I’m used to it. But it’s a whole other story when I smell it from Kirby!”  
“couldn’t meta Knight’s smell have rubbed off on Kirby or something?” Bandee asks. Taranza shakes his head,  
“Magic doesn’t really work like that. The “smell” Magolor talks about is just the magic traces someone’s soul emit. It come from within.”  
“Which is why Kirby’s smell completely contradicts what he used to smell like. he smells like he was born from the void or something! What have you all been up to?!” Magolor asks, making another step away from Kirby and Dedede.  
Meta Knight stills. This couldn’t be. He was dead. Kirby was the one that killed him!  
“Get rid of him.”  
“What?!” Dedede hugs Kirby in a direction away from Meta Knight, “You can’t be serious!”  
“When have I ever not been? Get rid of him.”  
“No!”  
“Get rid of him or I will dispose of him myself!” Meta Knight is silently panicking about the implications of this. He hadn’t heard from him since Kirby had put the broken star rod pieces back together. No one else has even remotely the same kind of magic he had. It’s not true, it can’t be true! He’s dead. He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead-  
“Meta Knight! Snap out of it!”  
Meta Knight’s eyes snap open to the view of him pointing Galaxia towards Kirby, who is still held by Dedede. He feels himself hyperventilating.  
“Excuse me,” he says as quickly as he leaves the room, wrapping his cape around himself.  
When the door closes, everyone let’s out a breath.  
“What was that?” Taranza Asks.  
“I..Don’t know…” Dedede keeps Kirby close to him as he stares at the door Meta Knight left through.  
“Doesn’t anyone have to go after him? He’s pretty much the only competent one among us, were going to need him if we want to know what’s going on.” Bandee says.  
“Maybe-“ Taranza begins, but gets cut off,  
“Competent?!” Dedede snaps, “Did you hear what he just suggested?”  
“There had to be a reason, sire! We know Meta Knight can be a little extreme sometimes, but there has to be some truth to his words.”  
“I’m not taking any more ideas from that numbskull of a knight!”  
Taranza looks between the two, helpless.  
“You’re not being rational, your majesty!”  
“I don’t need to be rational! I’m the king and my word is will.”  
“You’re not even the r-  
“HEY!”  
Everyone in the room stops and looks at Taranza in surprise. Dedede steps back.  
“..Thank you,” He says, “Okay. We just concluded that whatever King Dedede is holding is not Kirby.” Dedede tries to speak, but he doesn’t give him a chance, “BUT. It is no reason to…dispatch him. He might be the only hint of information we have about what happened to our Kirby. and the fact he smells like Meta Knight isn’t reason to assume he’s evil. Meta Knight isn’t evil, is he?”  
“That’s debatable,” Dedede says, only half serious. He looks around the half serious glares he gets from everyone and sighs,  
“Okay. I admit I’ve been harsh on Meta Knight. I’ll try to talk to him.” Bandee looks pleasantly surprised at his words. He knew that Dedede wasn’t as selfish as he makes himself out to be. Dedede puts Kirby down, gives him a quick ruffle on the head and leaves the room to the same direction as Meta Knight did.

###  
“Hey.”  
“…”  
No response. Dedede hesitates. Maybe this wasn’t as good of an idea as he thought. Meta Knight probably just wanted to be alone and calm down or something.  
“How did you find me,” Meta Knight asks.  
“With a map of the Lor and a lot of effort.”  
They were in a random guest room with the lights out. Dedede couldn’t see very well, but could make out the silhouettes of furniture. Meta Knight sat on the bed facing away from Dedede. He went to sit next to him, making sure to keep his distance.  
“I, uh. I’m-” Great start Triple D.  
“I’m sorry,” they say at the same time.  
“What? What are you sorry for?” Meta Knight asks.  
“Just- everything, I guess. I’m sorry I stir up fights with you all the time. I’m sorry I never want to see things from your perspective. I’m sorry I’m never the one apologizing.” Dedede sighs. “You’re always so observant and insightful. I guess it makes me jealous sometimes. I’m supposed to be the king, I’m supposed to know what to do. But you’re always the one coming up with ideas I never even considered.”  
“Being insightful isn’t everything, Dedede. You have a heart of gold. Nothing matters if you can’t be sympathetic to your allies.”  
“Ha, good one. I’m not done yet, batman. I’m also sorry for whatever the hell even happened just then in Magolor’s office. I-“  
“No. That I cannot agree with. I’ll be the one apologizing.” He turns to Dedede, only to reveal he wasn’t wearing his mask. That must have been why the lights were off. Dedede was one of the few to know that Meta Knight’s eyes were light-sensitive, and has visors in his mask that help him see. Dedede’s eyes had also gotten used to the dark by now. He can see the faint scarring on his face that usually hides behind the mask. His eyes are sad and puffy, like he had just cried and was trying to hide it. Meta Knight looks exhausted.  
“I panicked upon realizing what Kirby’s…smell might indicate. I lashed out. I took it out on you and him. I should have kept calm, and told everyone about the situation, but I’m stubborn and petty. I don’t want to tell them about my past because of my own shame pertaining to it.”  
“you don’t have to tell us things you’re not comfortable with. We can figure it out another way. We always have.”  
“No! This is not something I can just shove away, hoping it will disappear if I ignore it hard enough. I’m just-“ Meta Knight cut’s himself off before his voice breaks any more than it already had. he takes a shaky breath and looks away, “I’m sorry you have to see me like this, your majesty.”  
“hey, don’t go using royal titles now. I don’t care about that right now. I’m worried about you, Meta Knight.”  
“You shouldn’t use your energy worrying about me. I’m not worth it.”  
“Now you’re just gabbing nonsense.” Dedede says it with an angry tone. He can be mean about a lot of things, but draws the line at self deprecation. He grabs Meta Knight by his shoulder pads, surprising him into making eye contact.  
“I don’t care about you because you “work” for me. I don’t care about you because you protect dreamland. I don’t care about you because you take care of Kirby. I care about you because you’re my friend. And that’s enough reason to worry for you. I don’t have to know everything about you to know you’re a person with feelings and opinions and emotions and that you’re allowed to have them.”  
Meta Knight stares at him, probably processing what he’s just been told. Then he chuckles grimly, like, there’s no hope anyway, why even try?  
He looks down again and Dedede lets go of him. They sit in silence for a bit before Meta Knight breaks it with something Dedede never would have predicted,  
“It’s Nightmare.”  
“What? The guy I tried to seal away by breaking the star rod? The orb?”  
“One and only.”  
“What about him?”  
Meta Knight looks at him again, considering the pros and cons of telling Dedede about his past. If it really is Nightmare, he won’t be able to keep it a secret for much longer anyway.  
“How much do you know about me and Kirby?” he asks, wanting to get a basic understanding of what Dedede knows already.  
“Uh…. You two look alike?” okay, not a lot, Meta Knight concludes.  
“Let’s just say, Kirby’s species is very rare. There are others like him out there. If you’ve seen Galacta Knight, you might know what I mean.”  
“Yeah, Kirby told me about him once. Hot magenta, tiny dude like you,”  
Meta Knight twitched an eyebrow at the statement that he’s tiny.  
“Yes. So there are more of Kirby’s kind in the universe. though they are extremely rare, they are also extremely powerful, as you’ve seen with Kirby.”  
“Yeah, and with you!”  
“That is what I wanted to get to. You see, Nightmare wanted one of those warriors in his possession. As you can guess, no one wanted to work with him, so he decided… to make one himself.”  
A beat.  
“Are you saying…”  
“The creature he created… it’s me. It’s the reason I smell that way to Magolor.”  
Dedede looks at Meta Knight not with contempt or disgust, but with sympathy.  
“For how long were you… with him?  
“Only a few decades. Unsurprisingly, it’s not very pleasant to have him around, to say the least. I left the moment I had a chance.

  
When Kirby told me he’d defeated him I- well I guess I didn’t do a lot. But it felt like I was free. Free from the nightmares, from his attempts at contacting me and the constant dread that one day he’ll show up and take me back and- and that he’d never give me another chance to escape.” His breathes started to get quicker and he felt panic well up in him. “I hadn’t heard anything from him ever since and now that there’s even a single sign he might be back I-“ his voice gives up on him. He’s hit rock bottom, he thinks as he feels a tear run down his cheek. Then, he feels a comforting warmth covering his body as Dedede’s arms wrap around Meta Knight.  
“It’s okay. You’re not alone anymore,” he says, half whispering.  
Meta knight refused to cry, but he allowed himself to enjoy the hug.  
“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i legit just cringe looking at this chapter but i don't care i'm posting it anyway


	5. Demon Beasts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had a Time trying to decide which names should stay from the original japanese and which to change to the dub. there might still be some mix-up here and there ^^;

Kirby and his friends are walking back to Cappy town. Kirby’s sitting on the warp star while the rest walks.

“Can’t I get a turn on the warp star? My feet are tired out,” Bun says.

“If you would know how to control it, be my guess,” Fumu says. Taking Fumu’s word for it, Bun climbs onto the star, causing Kirby to lose balance and fall off, which in turn causes the warp star to spin in place with Bun still on it. Everyone stops to watch the comical scene play out.

“Wooaaahhhh! Kirby, help!!”

Kirby quickly gets up and stops the star by grabbing an end and steering it back in place. The star stopped spinning, but Bun hadn’t lost momentum, making him fly off into a wall.

“Oof!”

“Bun, are you alright?” Fumu asks, walking up to him. Bun rubs his head,

“Yeah, I’m fine. Dizzy from all that spinning, though.”

Kirby helps him up with the warp star and they keep walking in silence until Bun speaks up again,

“Hey! What about you, Meta Knight? You’re a star warrior too, aren’t you? Can you pilot the warp star?”

“In theory, he should be able to. But using a warp star can be something very personal, which is why the warp star usually only responds to its owner,” Sword knight explains.

“Or one of the same species,” Blade Knight continues, “it’s pretty rare to find a star warrior of the same species. eNeMee is pretty creative in creating demon beasts.”

Kirby speaks up, “creative? He creates the star warriors himself?”

“ah, my apologies, Sir Meta Knight! I let it slip out,” Blade Knight says.

Meta Knight looked annoyed, but doesn’t tell Blade Knight off. Instead he says, “It’s alright, Blade Knight. Now that we established that this Kirby is, in fact, Kirby, I trust him with the information.”

“don’t just go telling anyone about Meta Knight, alright Kirby?” Fumu says to Kirby like he’s a toddler.

“your secret is safe with me!” Kirby declares loudly.

When they arrive at the castle Dedede and Escargon were waiting for them in front of the bridges impatiently. It was cloudy above mt. Dedede. King Dedede notices kirby’s warp star and lifts an eyebrow(or what his equivalent of an eyebrow is). When they stop in front of the two, he starts talking,

“Why’s Kirby on his warp star? I haven’t even ordered any demon beasts today.”

“we’re-fmfpfhnpnf” Kirby begins, but again feels a hand on his mouth. He swears if this is going to happen one more time he’s going to lick the hand of whoever does it! Not this time though, because Fumu already took her hand off and started talking herself,

“we were just teaching Kirby some new tricks on the warp star.” She turns to Kirby, ”Show them what you’ve learned Kirby!”

Kirby was confused. He learned how to ride it half an hour ago.

“We didn’t do any t-“ Kirby remembers the Dedede from this world isn’t friendly yet and realizes he doesn’t know he can talk. Oops. “I mean- p..oyo?”

Dedede’s eyes go wide. Busted. Kirby looks at Fumu apologetically,

“sorry..”

“WHY IN MY NAME CAN KIRBY TALK????” Dedede yells. He falls backward from surprise while Escargon, also surprised, walks toward Kirby instead, examining him closely.

“What in the world…?” he says, then turns to Meta Knight, “What is the meaning of this, sir Meta Knight?!”

Meta Knight steps forward, throws his cape from around his body and gestures to Kirby, “Your majesty, this is a Kirby from a different world. He is older and more powerful than the one in our world. We are helping him get back to his home.”

“Meta Knight! Why would you just explain it outright like that?”

“Trust me, Fumu.”

“More powerful?” Dedede asks from his place on the floor.

“He is some years older than our Kirby and has defeated greater threats than we’ve had on this planet. Consider your options before trying to defeat him yourself.”

“How much greater are we talking?” Dedede slowly turns to Kirby, who answers joyfully, like they’re talking about their favorite foods. He steps hops off the warp star and says,

“I don’t know what you guys face over here, but I’m pretty sure I’ve fought like, three gods. Meta Knight said so when we came back from Void Termina.”

Dedede was shaking a little from hearing that this Kirby was even stronger than the one that had defeated all his demon beasts. However, he shook it off, got up with determination and angrily looks Kirby in the eyes,

“don’t think I’ll be scared of you, you revolting little twerp! I’ll order as many demon beasts as it takes to get rid of you,” Dedede pokes Kirby in the chest to emphasize his statement, “your days in dreamland are numbered.”

“Wha- hey that’s mean! I’m no twerp, I’m cute!” Kirby puffs up his cheeks in annoyance.

“Sire, you’re not really believing what Meta Knight told you?” Escargon asks.

“’course not! What could a little ball like you even accomplish? You’re probably even weaker than our Kirby!”

“I agree, your majesty. But let’s try not to underestimate Kirby like the first time. A great king learns from him mistakes,” Escargon says.

“I ain’t learning nothing! Get that dirty word outta your vocabulary!” Dedede punches Escargon on his head, “I going to have early diner. Meta Knight, don’t let this Kirby out of your sight,” he says as he walks away, leaving a repulsed Escargon behind, who doesn’t trust Kirby to be as weak as the king says to be.

“Who are you?” Kirby asks him. Escargon’s eyes widen,

“What? You don’t know?!” Escargon puts his hands on the sides of his eyes, “Not again!!”

“Calm down, Escargon.” Bun says, “It’s just Kirby this time.”

Fumu continues, “this Kirby is from a world where you don’t exist, so he doesn’t know you.”

Escargon looks taken aback, “But then who’s taking care of his majesty?”

“Just the Waddle Dees, mostly,” Kirby shrugs. ”What do you do for him, then?”

“Well, I- I’m- I do lots of stuff!” Escargon stutters, “I bring him his food, I fan him with when it’s hot out. I give him advice when he needs it.”

“Well… our Dedede can do those things himself, I think.”

Escargon looks insulted at Kirby’s words. He tries to think of something, sputtering out first words of sentences until he gives up and stomps on the ground and turns to the waddle dees guarding the gate.

“Waddle Dees! Make sure this fake Kirby doesn’t get into the castle!”

When he starts walking over the bridge he looks back one more time to make an “I have my eyes on you” gesture. Kirby doesn’t seem to know what it means. He looks sad that he’s not allowed into the castle anymore, though.

“You were right that they were mean. I like my Dedede way better.”

“No matter. Looks like the demons beasts have arrived. I’m seeing unusual activity within the clouds,” Meta Knight says, looking up.

Everyone else looks to where he’s pointing. Fumu sees the gray clouds move around each other like a dance. She picks Kirby up to put him back on the warp star,

“Okay, Kirby. It’s your turn now. Show them what you’re made of!”

Kirby nods determinedly and flies off towards the sky.

Fumu sighs as she sees him disappear into the clouds, “I hope he’ll be okay.”

“Kirby will be fine. I believe the demon beasts are merely send for reconnaissance, rather than actual combat. It must be why they stay in hiding.”

When Fumu says something in return, Meta knight notices something falling out of the clouds.

“Sure, but this Kirby hasn’t fought anyone from this world before. What if-“ Fumu gets interrupted by meta knight pushing her away,

“Look out!”

The object becomes bigger as it gets closer, turning out to be a bright, star-shaped projectile, not unlike the warp star except it dissipated on impact, crashing just after Fumu get’s pushed out of it’s field of collision. Bun runs to help his sister up.

“What was that?” she says, getting up from the grass.

“It must have been from Kirby’s battle. Whoever he’s fighting must have a power equivalent to the star rod!”

“What? Does that mean Kirby’s in trouble?!”

Before he can answer he stops to see Kirby flying down towards them at a steady pace. He’s wearing the sword ability hat. Meta Knight doesn’t know what could make him come back down this quickly until he explains it himself,

“Hi! I beat the bad guys! Are you two okay?”

“Already?” Fumu asks incredulously.

“Yeah! There were only four of them so I just inhaled them. One of them had a sword! Look, Meta Knight!”

Kirby was excited to show Kirby the awesome sword he took, but Meta Knight payed it little mind,

“Kirby, have you seen anyone that can shoot star-shaped projectiles during your battle?”

Kirby forgets about the sword and instead tries to think of anyone that had that kind of power. Nothing comes to mind except,

“Not really. I was the only one.”

“You?”

“Yeah! When I inhale something and spit it out again, it turns into a star,” Kirby explains, “does your Kirby not have that?”

“Nope. He just shoots them right out!” Bun says, “No transformation whatsoever.”

Fumu and Meta Knight look at each other in concern. Meta Knight’s eyes turn greenish again. He wonders why that happens.

###

“Alright, people. I’ve made things up with Meta and boy, do I have some shit to tell you.”

“Kirby’s still here, you know,” Magolor says.

“Oh f- I mean- Anyway! Meta Knight and I have reason to believe Nightmare is back. And that he is the reason Kirby is like this. “

“The ancient wizard? Huh, I wondered what happened to that guy,” Magolor says in thought.

Taranza looks lost. Dedede explained how he tried to keep Nightmare from bringing nightmares to everyone in dreamland by shattering the star rod, and how, through a whole heap of miscommunication, Kirby put it back together, but also killed Nightmare right after.

“That guy and Meta Knight… had a background with each other. Which is why he smells the way he does. The fact that Kirby smells like this must mean Nightmare is, in one way or another, back,” Dedede says.

“That fact had frightened me, and I lashed out. I apologize for that.”

Dedede turns around to see Meta Knight in the doorway.

“Wow, that sure was quick mental preparation.” Dedede says. Meta Knight had told him to go on ahead to explain because he needed to gather himself first, and mentally prepare to face their friends.

“I didn’t want to take the chance that you might give them the wrong message, is all.”

“Geez, thanks for having faith in me,” Dedede says lightheartedly.

Taranza speaks up, “Do you think this portal might lead to him, this Nightmare?”

“There is a chance. So we might have to prepare for a fight. He is strong, but we would outnumber him,” Meta Knight says.

“we’re always prepared for a fight!” Dedede says, taking out his hammer. Bandee agrees.

“you can count on us,” Magolor says, “I can’t wait to see how strong this renowned wizard actually is.”

“Let’s get back to work then, Magolor,” Taranza says as he sits down at Magolor’s desk and starts writing sigils neither Dedede or Meta Knight recognize. Looks like they already started decrypting the magic traces when they were having a feelings jam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess where the term 'feelings jam' came from


	6. Calm before the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes i don't know if i'm writing kirby well. one moment he's babey and suddenly he talks like a college student. let's just conclude that kirby is only baby when it's convenient for the plot. thank you for reading if you've come this far:)
> 
> EDIT: fixed the shitty formatting on this chapter :) i hope it's readable now

Dedede felt kind of useless when Magolor and Taranza were working on the portal so Meta Knight, Bandee and he went to build a strategy in case they have to fight anyone.

  
“Nightmares only weakness is beneath his cloak. When he attacks he has to expose his body to cast spells, that’s when you attack.”

  
“I’ll go for the offensive, but maybe either of the two mages has an elemental advantage to him?” Bandee says.

  
“It is possible, but any kind of attack will do. You just have to make sure you dodge his tornado attacks, those deal a lot of damage.”  
Dedede puts a gloved hand on Meta Knight’s shoulder.  
“What if it leads to somewhere entirely different, though? We gotta be prepared for other things too,” he says

  
“I suppose you’re right,” Meta Knight sighs, “we will only have enough supplies on the Lor Starcutter to last us a day, but I doubt we will need more time. If our Kirby really is on the other end, the battle will be over sooner rather than later.” He thinks about how Kirby beat him the first time, and hopes Dreamland can go without dreams for one night.

  
“We need to be prepared for the worst,” Dedede says, “Let’s get food for at least a week!”

  
“No doubt you’d eat it all at breakfast, your majesty,” Bandee laughs.

  
***

  
Meta Knight went ahead into the castle to check up on Sword Knight and Blade Knight, who had gone after King Dedede to make sure he doesn’t try anything. Fumu had to walk Kirby back to his home, since he didn’t know the way himself. After he stepped off the warp star it flew away. Fumu had explained that it goes to Kabu for safekeeping. Kabu was practically a hospital for star warriors. Kirby thought the concept of a personal hospital sounded fun, but now he had to walk. He hadn’t eaten after the battle with the demon beasts, so Fumu suggested they stop at Kawasaki’s on their way.

  
“Kawasaki?! He makes the best food! I want so know what his beef steak tastes like in this world!”

  
“You too, huh?” Fumu says as they walk along the streets of Cappy town, “our Kirby also loves Kawasaki’s cooking. You two are just about the only ones.”

  
“No way! Everyone loves Kawasaki’s food! Even Meta Knight likes his sweets,” Kirby says, “ah! That was a secret! Please forget I said that..”

  
Fumu laughs. “You know a lot about Meta Knight, don’t you?”

  
“He doesn’t like that I do. He’s always so secretive!”

  
“He’s the same way here. I always have to guess what his motives are.”

They arrive at a house with a green, grassy roof and bamboo ornaments next to the entrance. There is a blue banned over it saying “Kawasaki’s”.

  
“Hi, Fumu! And Kirby too! Welcome, did you come to eat?” Kawasaki says as they enter the shop. He seems ecstatic to see Kirby, the only resident of Cappy town that enjoys his meals.

  
“Not me, I’ve already eaten,” Fumu lies, “Kirby’s hungry, though.”

  
“Hi!” Kirby waves enthusiastically.

  
“Hello, Kirby! Please take a seat wherever.”  
When they sit down at a table near the window Kawasaki is there to take Kirby’s order.  
“Beef steak please! And a bowl of ramen,” Kirby declares happily. Kawasaki looks surprised, as Fumu has come to expect from everyone they meet today.

  
“Eh…! Am I hallucinating? Did Kirby just say the order himself?”

  
“Yes. It’s a long story, but this Kirby is from a completely different world, one where he can talk.”

  
“Wow! Nice to meet you, Different Kirby.”

  
“Hehe, it’s nice to meet you too!” Kawasaki seemed to accept this fact fairly easily.

  
“Are you not weirded out?” Fumu asks.

  
“Weirder things have happened in Cappytown. You of all people should know,” Kawasaki laughs.

  
“I guess you’re right,” Fumu smiles. At least it’s not anything that wants to defeat Kirby like so many others did. It’s a nice change of pace, Fumu thought. “can I have some tea?”

  
“A steak, ramen and tea, comin’ right up,” he says as he walks back to the kitchen.  
Kirby start devouring the steak the moment the plate touches the table, saying through bites that Dedede would love it if he were here.

  
“His majesty doesn’t care for my food, like the rest of the village,” Kawasaki says, looking down.

  
“My Dedede would! I’ll take bandee and him here when they come get me.”

  
“How do you think they’ll manage to come here? Would they even know you’re gone?”

  
“Of course,” Kirby finishes his ramen with a slurp, “You noticed immediately, didn’t you?”

  
“Yes but maybe they’ll think you’re just not feeling well, and leave you to sleep at home. Or our Kirby, I guess.”

  
“No… Bandee would find it weird I wouldn’t want to play with him and chilly, and I promised Adeleine I’d go fishing with her next tuesday…”

  
“Oh no… I didn’t mean to make you worry, Kirby. I’m sure they’ll come as soon as possible.”

  
“Yeah. I do hope you’re right.” Kirby didn’t want Fumu to feel guilty, so he shakes the thought from his mind and thanks Kawasaki for the meal. Kirby tells Fumu he wants to see more of the village on his way home before it all closes.

  
###

  
The five of them ended up forcing themselves to go to bed after working until 2 am. Magolor and Taranza working to recreate the portal and the rest travelling over dreamland to gather supplies that they might need, since they don’t know where they might end up and whether they can even go back in one go. Everyone just spread themselves over the guestrooms since the Lor is apparently 3 times bigger on the inside. Obviously it doesn’t have four whole guestrooms, it’s not a mansion. So, they had to share. Bandee ended up rooming with Taranza while King Dedede shared a room with Meta Knight and Kirby. Bandee had never really talked to Taranza in a one-on-one conversation. He’d only seen him in passing when Kirby chased him down up the Dreamstalk. Other than that… the most he’d done was make eye-contact.

  
Bandee sat at the foot of his (huge) bed and swung his feet back and forth while Taranza unpacked his bags. They agreed that everyone should have some spare clothes (or armor in Meta Knight’s case) with them to the place . Dedede had three suitcases with him, one of which Meta Knight begrudgingly had to roll to their room. Meta Knight himself only had a spare mask. Taranza had taken one extra outfit, but had other things he wanted to with him “in case he died on the battlefield” in his words. A flower from the dreamstalk, a miracle fruit, a stuffed animal… Bandee just had an extra bandana, though this one was green. He’d never lost his bandana before, so he doubts he’s gonna need it, but Meta Knight insisted he take at least something. Bandee did feel naked without a bandana, so he doesn’t need to be convinced twice.

  
When Taranza was done putting the flower into its vase(which he also brought with him), he sat down at his bed with an exhale and let his head fall into the blankets.

  
“So…”he tries.

  
“Hm?” Taranza says, not looking down from his staring contest with the ceiling.

  
“I guess we’ll feel like real clowns if the portal ends up leading to Susie’s backyard or something,” Bandee says jokingly, “We’ve been hyping ourselves up all day.

  
“I doubt that’s the case,” Taranza says, “The Kirby that’s currently residing in here with us is evidence of that. If meta Knight is right, all evidence points to this “Nightmare” person I hadn’t heard of before.”

  
“I thought he used to be pretty well known throughout the universe before he disappeared. I had also only heard about him from His Majesty, though.”

  
“The people of the sky didn’t have a lot of contact with the rest of the universe. We barely had any contact with the people of the lower world.”

  
“It still amazes me how we had only found out about your existence a few years ago. You guys had been there the whole time, and Kirby went to space several times! How could we have missed this huge kingdom right above us?”

  
Taranza laughed. It was small, but genuine, “actually, I don’t know if he’s from Dreamland, but Marx visited a few times before Kirby came.”

  
“Huh…”Bandee spends a good second to process this, ”what??”

  
“Yeah, he was annoying, but not harmful. Kept throwing beachballs at everyone..” Taranza yawned. “We had to clean the confetti ourselves.” Bandee looked at the clock next to the door to the bathroom,

  
“Three a.m.?!” Bandee said, trying, and failing to keep it quiet.

  
“Certainly is..” Taranza says as he makes himself comfortable under the sheets, “You don’t stay up too late either, okay?”

  
“Oh, sure…” Bandee said, but Taranza was already asleep.

  
***

  
Kirby and Fumu sure got sidetracked. They first went to the library, and Fumu had to read Kirby a picture book. Then they went to the grocery store. Kirby looked at it all like he’d never seen such a thing before, like their world hadn’t been tainted by the gruesome hands of capitalism yet. Fumu bought him a candy bar.  
At Fumu’s suggestion they also went to see professor Curio. He told Kirby all about the history of Dreamland and the ancient cappies that resided here. Kirby almost ate a vase, arguing it looked like chocolate.

  
It was well past Fumu’s bedtime by the time they arrived at Kirby’s house. Fumu didn’t really care though. She liked hanging out with this Kirby and learning things about his world.

  
“Bye, Fumu! Thanks for bringing me,” Kirby waved. Fumu started heading back to the castle.

  
“Goodbye, Kirby! See you tomorrow,” Fumu says as she turned and waved back.  
It still felt a bit surreal to hear Kirby say things. Fumu knows he’s old enough to talk, but he can’t read fluently yet. She wonders who teaches Kirby things like reading and math if Fumu isn’t around in his world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's meta knight. sometimes taranza helps out


	7. Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to rewatch the last few episodes of KRBAY to stay as close to the story as possible, so it might seem like a completely different writing style or something. It was a real learning experience doing this, though!
> 
> i've been trying to format it a little better at the suggestion of Poppila. thank you for the advice! :)

The birds nest was a lot more comfortable than Kirby had anticipated. After he got locked out of his(counterpart’s) own home, Tokkori yelled through the door,

“Our Kirby always sleeps in the tree so you should, too!”

And so he did. Kirby thought about all the new friends he’s made here as he fell into his slumber. Fumu, Bun, Tokkori(dubious) and a new Meta Knight. Now there’s a fourth Meta Knight! Kirby hoped his meta Knight would get along well with this one, since that hasn’t been the case with any of the others so far. Hm, who else… Fololo and Falala, Blade Knight and Sword Knight.. maybe with time, even this worlds king Dedede…

“Kirby, wanna go have a picnic with us?”

Kirby opens his eyes to see a bright blue sky above the tree he’s residing in. he looks down to see who called him. Fumu and Bun are looking up at him from the ground. When he jumps from the tree, Fumu starts talking,

“Not you too… why do you have to let Tokkori walk all over you and take over your house?”

“He wouldn’t let me in and I was tired,” Kirby explained simply, “what did you say about a picnic?” he could feel his mouth water at the thought.

“We already have everything prepared,” Bun says, “you can come if you don’t immediately inhale the whole basket.”

“Can’t make any promises, but I want to come!” Kirby jumps in glee.

When they’re all set up in a secluded spot in the plains nearby cappytown, Kirby gladly takes one of Lady Like’s sandwiches. They laugh and talk, because Kirby can talk! Bun laughs at how, predictably, next to everything Kirby says is about food. It’s nice… until it’s not. A familiar car dramatically pulls up next to their spot, in it are Dedede and Escargon. While everyone looks at them, Kirby, unabble to restrain himself, throws the entire basket of sandwiches into his mouth.

“Good day, your majesty,” Sir Ebrum politely says, though surprised.

Fumu stands up and stands in front of Kirby protectively. Kirby doesn’t know what’s happening.

“You better not be here for Kirby,” she says.

“Not this time,” Escargon laughs.

“We’re here for the big mouth,” Dedede says, pointing to Fumu. The big mouth in question looks at him surprised and gets caught off guard by the giant mechanical hand that suddenly grabbed her, pulling her into the trunk in which the arm came from. Kirby couldn’t progress what was happening until the car started driving back, with Fumu still in it!

“Kirby, quick!” Bun started running after them, with Kirby running closely behind. Leaving two concerned parents behind to clean up the picnic.

They lost them after Dedede drove off into the parking garage under the castle, and it took a while before actually catching up as well. Once in the castle, they came across Meta Knight, who pointed them to the prison chambers.

“Hey, Fumu!” Bun says when they found the three behind some Waddle Dee guarded bars. There was a big table with sweets and cakes in front of Fumu, who was tied up in a chair.

“Fumu!” Kirby yelled.

Bun and Kirby entered through the little door in the bars, just big enough for a Waddle Dee.

“Look, it’s the little brother to the rescue,” Escargon says, “Ain’t it nauseating.”

“Get lost, were trying to find out where the warp star is!” Dedede says.

“Huh? Oh that’s easy. The warpstar’s inside Kabu,” Bun says before instantly regretting it. Dedede and Escargon looks at each other in surprise at how easy it ended up being to get the information they wanted. The two laugh as they run out the same little door Bun and Kirby entered through, though with considerably more trouble fitting through the gate.

Bun goes to untie Fumu from the ropes, “I’m sorry, sis. It just slipped out.” Kirby is eating everything on the table. It’d be a waste to let it just sit there.

“Some secret keeper…” Fumu says, rubbing her arms, “It doesn’t matter, anyway. They don’t even know how to use the warp star. Let’s find mom and dad first. They must be worried sick.”

Kirby trusted Fumu on her word. besides, he hadn’t tried summoning a warp star here yet, but he’s sure he can just make it fly to him from between Dedede’s gloves when he does.

When they find Sir Ebrum and Lady Like, the heartfelt reunion was cut short by an eerie cyclone forming in the clouds. Everyone looked at the sky in fear and anticipation. Kirby was beginning to make out a shape through the clouds as the ground started shaking and it revealed itself to be a spaceship! Something came out of the big opening in the middle, and it was headed right for them. Fumu ushered everyone out of the way, but Kirby wasn’t quick enough and got caught in the blast, throwing him a few feet away. Three more missiles headed for Kirby, all three ramming right into him before he could even get his bearings. The blast threw him outside, where he could see even more missiles coming out of the sky. He haphazardly dodged the first of them and kept running to keep them from hitting him completely,

“Why are they after me?!!” Kirby yells as he dodges a missile by a hair’s breadth. He runs through corridors and hallways to try and shake these things off, but they just keep coming! When he finally found a spot where the missiles couldn’t find him, he sighed. Fumu and Bun ran up to him,

“Kirby! are you okay?!” Kirby stood weakly on his feet as Fumu helped him up, “We gotta get you out of here!”

“Fumu,” a lower voice said. They looked for the owner of the voice, Meta Knight, to find him in standing in a hole in the wall, with the room behind him completely covered in flames. “you must call on the warp star!” Kirby could barely hear him over the sound of exploding missiles.

“I can’t it’s too-“ Fumu says before getting cut off by a scarily nearby explosion. Fumu instinctively holds a protective arm over Kirby. It’s only a matter of time before the missiles have found them.

“There’s no time! Do it, now!” Kirby agrees with Meta Knight on this one. He doesn’t appreciate being hit by missiles, so he calls for it himself.

“But Dedede’s after it! It’s too risky!”

“We cannot fight this threat alone, it is our only hope,” Meta Knight argues.

“But-“ Fumu tries again, but a missile has found Kirby, and he nearly gets hit. Fortunately, this warp star has a mind of its own, and managed to swoop Kirby up before the missile hits him, instead hitting the wall behind him.

“The warp star!” Fumu yells in surprise.

“This Kirby is more mature, and therefore able to call upon the warp star himself,” meta Knight explains, thinking out loud.

Kirby flies towards the flying saucer in the sky, dodging the missiles with more ease because of the warp star. This thing sure is fast! He’s almost to the big opening in the middle when he hears a scream from Fumu. The missiles are going after her now! He doesn’t hesitate when turning around and looking for her. He finds Fumu running through a corridor away from two missiles.

“Fumu!” Kirby flies to her side, “Hold on!” he says as he holds out a paw to her. She takes it and Kirby takes Fumu with him into the sky. But he hadn’t accounted for how more weight would affect his steering. He could only come halfway to the spaceship before getting hit by a missile, which blows him off balance. This is bad...!

Once more, a missile managed to hit them. Kirby couldn’t remember being blown off the warp star, because he was already unconscious.

When Kirby wakes up on a warm stone floor, he recognizes the place as Kabu. he looks around to see Bun, Meta Knight, (this world’s) Lololo and Lalala and an unconscious Fumu lying next to him. He rubs his head as he gets up, wearily,

“Ugh.. What happened…?”

“You were blown unconscious by a missile and fell off the warp star,” Meta Knight explains as Fumu also regains consciousness next to Kirby.

“We fell…? We were so high in the air, though,” Fumu says

“Yeah, and it sure was a fall,” Bun says, “Luckily the warp star caught you.”

“Wait, how did we even get inside Kabu, then?”

“The warp star had used the last of its strength to bring you and it back here,” Meta Knight says, pointing to something behind Kirby. Kirby turned around to the stone table behind him to find the warp star sitting in its spot, a dark green, with a tip broken off.

“I’m sorry Meta Knight. You told me to be careful and I broke the warp star anyway…”

“This is not your fault, Kirby. we’ve never had an attack this great directed at dreamland. You could not have predicted this.”

Just as Meta Knight finished talking, the ground began to shake as they could hear more missiles hitting Kabu. Fumu could hardly keep her balance.

“The spaceship again,” Kirby yells, “The warp star hasn’t regenerated…”

“We must not let them destroy kabu,” Meta Knight says.

“What do we do?!”

Kabu’s loud voice rings through the walls as he talks, “soon, the warps star will have regenerated. Kirby must stop them when it does.”

“Kabu, you are in danger! We can’t wait for the warp star to have regenerated,” meta knight says, looking up to the ceiling where kabu’s face would be.

Kirby has an idea, but he doesn’t know if it will be a good one…

“I’ll summon one of my warp stars!” he says as he runs outside. Fumu wanted to stop him from going outside, but she got held back by Meta Knight. In front of him, a warp star starts manifesting from thin air, as the way Kirby is used to. It worked, It’s here! He jumps onto the vertically placed warp star as it prepares to launch him into the sky. He heads straight for the opening in the middle, where the missiles are from.

Instead of dodging the missiles, the warp star just fully collides with them, causing the projectiles to shatter and turn into stardust on impact. When he’s inside the spaceship, he locates the machine that builds the missiles. He looks for something to inhale so he can throw it to the machine but there’s nothing there…oh!

Kirby inhales a couple of newly finished missiles that were headed for him and obtains the…Crash ability! Missile would have been the more logical result, but Kirby wasn’t about to complain. He targets the spaceship and activates his ability, making the entire ship collapse from the inside out and, just after Kirby escaped, explode spectacularly in the sky.

He returns to Kabu, landing roughly on the site in front if it. The warp star shatters when it hits the ground, sending Kirby to skid a few feet further on his face like usual. He has yet to learn to land properly with a warp star. The others run up to him as he dusts himself off,

“Kirby!” Fumu yells, “You did it!”

“Bet it’s just another Tuesday for you!” Bun says, smiling.

“Bun, it’s Saturday,” Fumu says to him.

Meta Knight’s eyes shine blue as he talks, “It’s good to see you’re more than capable of handling things yourself, Kirby.” He turns to the others, “Let’s return to the castle. There are surely more spacecrafts on the way.”

When Fumu, Bun and Kirby looked at Cappytown from a balcony from the castle, they saw just how much damage the spaceship had done. Everything was either burned to a crisp or still on fire. It would have been a pretty sight, had it not been a village where people lived and had grown up in.

“It is time,” Meta Knight says from behind them, “Sword, Blade. Prepare the battleship.”

“What! Are you sure?” blade knight asks, “Everyone will know about it.”

“It’s been a secret for quite a long time. But if Sir Meta Knight says so, I trust his judgement. Let’s go.”

“Yes,” Meta Knight says, “we want to be prepared for any other attacks that are no doubt coming.” The two knights disappear behind the wall as they run to prepare the Halbert. The rest of them don’t know what they meant with battleship, safe for Kirby.

Fumu walks up to him, “What are you three talking about? How do we prepare for even more of those giant spaceships?”

“Fumu, can you get all the cappies to gather at the fountain?”

“But everyone’s still trying to extinguish the fires,” Bun says.

“That does not matter for now. If we do not act quickly, the entire planet is at risk.”

“Whoa, that sounds serious,” Kirby says, then gasps “Does that mean you’re going to uncover your big battleship secret?!”

“Yes, though I suppose it isn’t a very well kept one if you know about it,” Meta Knight says lightly. He wonders what his counterpart might have been up to for Kirby to know about the Halbert.

Fumu nods firmly. She doesn’t know what they mean, but trusts that Meta Knight has a plan.

###

“Wait! Look here. If x plus 35.09x2 is equal to the square root of y then ψ becomes obsolete because ψ is y minus ɣ and ɣ is… augh! I lost my train of thought…”

“Wow you were on a roll there, though. I see where you were going with that,” Magolor writes down whatever Taranza had just spat out on another piece of scrap paper as he talks, “ So ψπ becomes just π, which if we multiply that by c we get Ω, which brings us one step closer to the answer! I’ll punch that into the calculator real quick.”

“Don’t worry I’ve got six hands, I can do it.”

“Yeah but only half a brain apparently. The speed of light has to be as accurate as possible, don’t just enter 3 million meters per second and call it a day.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can handle a little encyclopedia searching. You should continue with calculating the width of a portal particle so we don’t get a portal that only allows for caterpillars to enter. Kirby wouldn’t appreciate that.”

“What are those two even talking about?” Dedede says to Bandee. The two came to Magolor’s office to bring them lunch. They would forget to eat if no one came to remind them to take a break. Bandee shakes his head from under the tray he’s holding up, “I have no idea.. they seem really into it right now. Maybe we shouldn’t interrupt them.”

“Nonsense,” Dedede says, walking up to the Taranza and Magolor sitting at the desk, “ALRIGHT YOU TWO, TIME FOR A BREAK.”

The two look up in surprise, completely jumbling whatever formula they were doing in their head.

“Just a moment, your majesty. We’re almost there,” Taranza says.

“All the more reason to take a break and eat some toast. Bandee, get over here.”

Bandee brings the tray to the desk and puts it on top of all the paper and notepads. Magolor looks disgruntledly at the food in front of him.

“I’m not hungry, Bandee. No Thanks,” he says.

“Actually, I think you need some fresh air,” Bandee says, “You two have been holed up here for the past two days.”

Dedede puts gives his tray to bandee and takes Magolor’s and Taranza’s hand,

“Good idea, Bandee! Let’s go to the dining room to eat together!”

When they approach it, the automatic door opens to the dining room, where Meta Knight was polishing Galaxia.

“See? You don’t want to let Meta knight clean his sword all alone? Let’s keep him some company,” Dedede says, gesturing to Meta Knight, who looks annoyed at the sudden commotion.

“I’m fine, actually,” he says. Dedede starts walking towards him anyway, both hands full of hands. When he looks back, he sees no bowl cutted spider or feline egg to be found behind him. Only a shrugging Bandana Dee. When he looks back at the hands he’s carrying, he sees a gesture from Magolor’s hand that should not be explained, as I would like to keep this as child friendly as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the 'child friendly' thing was a lie i told myself when writing to keep the swearing to a minimum. i swear a lot.
> 
> also, 'x + 35.09x2' doesn’t mean anything. I have highschool-grade physics knowledge and it’s all just gibberish.


	8. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> skipped the entirety of ep 98 or whichever the dream episode was. dw i thought ahead about the consequences of not having dream training from Kabu. i'm sorry, Kabu. you're a bitch in every game i encounter you in.

Bandee runs to the infirmary with King Dedede behind him. 

“What did he say happened,” King Dedede Asks.

“He didn’t know! Meta Knight only saw Kirby collapse all of a sudden!”  
The doors to the infirmary open to Taranza and Meta Knight at one of the beds, with Magolor on a chair against the wall opposite of it. Dedede walks to push Taranza to the side when he rethinks his choice and makes a beeline for Meta Knight instead. He looks at Kirby, lying in the bed, from his spot next to Meta Knight. Bandee climbs onto the foot of the bed. 

“He just started groaning and crying… I brought him here as soon as I could but…”  
Kirby writhes in pain. Taranza pets him with a worried look.

“What could it be?” Bandee asks.

“I have no idea,” Taranza says, “Magolor did a quick checkup and his vitals seemed to be in order.”

“I suggest we let it rest for now,” Magolor says from his spot on the chair, “It’s not gonna help if we keep goading him like that.”

“Wait, look,” Dedede says. Everyone looks at Kirby, who had started to calm down and is now falling asleep.

“Did he lose consciousness?” Bandee pokes Kirby, who lazily swats away the paw.

“…Huh.”

“Okay…” Taranza begins, “Well, that sure was weird but it seems like things are okay now.” He turns to Magolor, “We should finish with the portal as fast as possible before something like this happens again, and doesn’t fix itself like it did just now.”  
Everyone went back to their original activities except Dedede, who stayed behind to make sure Kirby is okay. 

###

“…Okay so we finished with the distance calculation. What else? Did we do rotation?”

“Yeah, I got it right here. it’s already in the system. Actually, I think that was it.”

“Huh?”

“Like. were done. We can start putting the data into the Lor’s portal system and we can find Kirby.”

“…”

“Uh. Taranza? You okay there buddy?”

Taranza jumps up from his chair, “WE’RE DONE. OH MY GOD, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.” 

“Whoa! Calm it with the swears, Taranza.” Magolor goes to get Taranza to sit again, but he’s basically vibrating with how exited he looks. The door opens as Kirby peeks through, followed by Bandee and a very angry Dedede,

“Kirby coulda heard that you puddle-headed buffoons!”

“Poyo!” Kirby has been just fine since he woke up in the infirmary. Nobody understands what had happened but Kirby acted like it never did in the first place.

“But he didn’t,” Magolor counters, “We finished the portal calculations! Let’s go to the main deck and get our Kirby back!”

Dedede’s eyes widen, “Well what are we waiting for then?! Let’s go!” Dedede, Bandee, Magolor and Taranza all run to the main deck, Kirby following them even though he doesn’t know what’s happening. When they open the door, Meta Knight is already there.

“I could hear you talking from the other side of the Lor,” he explains, “Now, you said you can create the portal? Are there any precautions we have to keep in mind?”

“Not really. Just don’t fall over. I don’t exactly have seatbelts here.” Magolor walks to the simplistic computer interface and gains a visual on the outside. They’ve been at Kirby’s place ever since Magolor landed(which was why everyone just passed the night on the Lor). Kirby’s house is pretty far away from any populated areas in Dreamland, so the only thing on screen are plains and trees. Taranza helps him put in the data for the portal as the rest observes in anticipation. 

“There,” Magolor says, looking at a screen full of open windows and green checkmarks.

“Will the Lor be able to make such a poweful portal? It’s quite a distance away,” 

“Don’t worry your pretty head about it. The lor can travel to other dimensions entirely! with only one push of a button, the Lor Starcutter will create the portal, and we can get Kirby back.” Magolor faces Taranza, “Will you do the honors?”  
Taranza looks delighted to be included in the group activity of pushing a button. There was no countdown or hesitation. Just Taranza saying,

“With pleasure.”   
And they had to breach themselves for the sudden force on the starship that entered the portal.  
###  
Only Magolor was able to keep his balance. Everyone else toppled over at one point in their trip to the other side. Everyone was getting their bearings as Magolor pulled up a visual of their surroundings. When the screen showed where they were, they didn’t really know what to think.

“Where are we?” Bandee asks.

“Looks like dreamland to me. Did the portal even work?” Dedede asks.

“I assume it did,” Magolor says. The geography of this place doesn’t match any of Dreamlands.”

“Is that a castle?” bandee says to himself as he looks at a small window showing the a visual to the northeastern side of the Lor.

Taranza speaks up, “Wait, look!” he points to the giant battleship that is just about to disappear into the clouds.

“The Halbert!?” Meta Knight says incredulously. 

“Looks like some kind of knock-off Halbert you’d get at the shiver star black market,” Dedede comments. Kirby looks infatuated with it.

“Let’s follow it. It’s the only lead we have right now.”

“I’ll lock onto its location,” Magolor says, typing something into the holographic keyboard.

“Uhm, what about him?” Bandee says, gesturing to Kirby, “Maybe we could ask around first?”

“Poyo…?” Kirby point to himself as if to say, “Me…?”

“Oh yeah, let’s ask the people trying to put out a burning village if they’ve seen a round squishy orb with eyes around,” Dedede says sarcastically.

“What- burning village?” Magolor searches for the village on the many windows and zooms in on a particularly bright orange spot.

“I though that light was from the sunrise…” Bandee says.

"Let’s help the village extinguish the fires before pursuing the...Halbert,” Meta Knight says.

“Leave that to the Lor!” Magolor slaps a wall, “This bad boy can fit so much water in it!”

“Promise me it’s not oil?” Dedede says. One time, Magolor was invited to a bake-off. When one of the ovens caught on fire, he gave the baker a fire extinguisher filled with oil. They had to call chilly to extinguish the fires.

“Yeah, yeah. I promise. What do you think you’ve been using the toilet with?” Magolor puts his hands on his sides.

“Good point. Let’s go.”  
They fly above the burning village and Magolor activates his water cannons, extinguishing a majority of the fires. A bunch of upside-down potato sacks with faces start walking towards the aircraft in curiosity. Some are waving.

“Should we land and ask for directions?” Bandee suggests. Meta Knight watches the fake Halbert take off into the sky.

“We should follow the Halbert before we lose sight of it,” he says.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a lock on it’s location. Wherever it goes, we’ll find it,” Magolor says.  
They start landing as the people run from under the Lor to avoid being crushed by it. When the door opens and a bridge to the ground starts unfolding, the potato-sacks form a crowd in front of it. Magolor starts walking down the bridge,

“Greetings!! We come in peace,” he nervously says.

“Is that an alien?” someone says. Low murmuring starts emerging from the crowd, questioning what they want, the village is already destroyed. And whether they were looking for King Dedede. Upon hearing his name, Dedede steps forward into view. He hears a few gasps as he holds up a hand in salutation,

“Hey, what was that about me?”

“I thought his majesty went with Meta Knight?” someone in a green, formal attire and mustache questions. Meta Knight, too, steps forward upon hearing his name,

“He did. Why do you know us?” he doesn’t know why, but he faintly hears a Spanish guitar in the distance.

“Meta Knight?! What-“ the green suited person stops his sentence when he realizes what is happening. Fumu had told him all about it, the talking Kirby and the switch-up of the two worlds. “You must be Kirby’s friends. We are the cappies from Cappytown. I am professor Curio.” he explains

“Kirby’s friends? That’s us!” Taranza says.

“That still leaves the question of how they know us. Do they know Kirby?” Bandee asks

“I think you will find the best explanation when following the battleship in the sky,” Curio points to the place the Halbert disappeared into the clouds. “But first…do you have our Kirby?”

“Well we sure have _a_ Kirby,” Magolor says. He turns to call for him, “Kirby! get out here!” they wait for a bit, but there’s no response. “what in the world…” Magolor walks back inside and hears a distant laughter coming from the west wing… crap. “Kirby’s found the copy ability room!!”   
He runs to the copy room, followed by Meta Knight. They open the door to a complete mess of a room. A ladder is on fire and some of the test dummies have ninja stars in them. The leaf ability orb is frozen, how is that even possible?! They find Kirby himself in the third copy room, jumping around with the hi-jump ability, laughing.

“Kirby, get down this instant,” Meta Knight orders. Kirby doesn’t mind him though, cause he just found the tornado ability.

“Aw jeez…” Magolor says as he’s about to get pulled into the tornado on Kirby’s head. Meta knight dodges Kirby’s tornado and goes to grab him from behind. The only way he’s known Kirby to drop his copy ability is if he does it himself or if he gets hurt. Magolor screams from inside Kirby’s tornado hat. Out of ideas, Meta Knight just starts furiously shaking the puffball in his hands.  
It somehow works and Kirby drops the copy ability, leaving Magolor to fly off and hit the ceiling.

“Why…..” he says, slowly hovering down to the floor.

“I was out of ideas.”

Magolor shakes his head from his dizziness, “whatever! Let’s go, Knight. I’ll clean this up later.”  
The two start heading back, Meta Knight still holding Kirby.

“Cur-yo!” Kirby says when he gets sight of Professor Curio. He jumps out of Meta Knight’s arms and runs up to him. Curio gives him a pat on the head.

“Thank the stars you’re okay, Kirby.”

Taranza speaks up, “A lovely reunion you’re having, but we need our Kirby too, so we’ll be departing.”

“Wait,” Curio says, handing Kirby over to Magolor, who looks unsure of what to do with him, “Take him with you. You’re going to need all the help you can get.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean…” Magolor says.

“You’ll find out. Go before you lose them.”

***

Everyone thought it was Kirby’s fault Cappytown got destroyed. He can’t blame them, they said it hadn’t gotten this bad until he came to this world. The missiles were targeting Kirby and his friends, with the village as collateral damage.  
After Meta knight showed everyone the Halbert, everything went by fast. The Halbert had a completely different model from what Kirby knew, so he was just as mesmerized as everyone else as they went to the bridge. Blade Knight and Sword Knight were already there,

  
“We entered all the target data, Sir Meta Knight,” Sword Knight said. Kirby had no idea what that meant. The gigantic screen zoomed in on an even bigger-looking saucer-shaped spaceship. The size of a small planet, Meta Knight said. There were a bunch of baby saucers swarming around it. Blade Knight explained that every one of those is just like the spaceship that attacked Cappytown yesterday.

  
Then suddenly, Kirby felt a big explosion above the earth. Everyone else felt it too, as heard by their exclamations of surprise. The screen panned to a view of six spaceships arriving above the castle, like Meta Knight predicted, and firing even more missiles than the previous one, completely destroying the surroundung structures. Dedede didn’t seem pleased with this. He left the Halbert, Escargon following him.

  
Kirby felt slightly disappointed with Cappytown when Meta Knight asked everyone to man the Halbert and they all bailed on them. Only Fumu’s family, Lololo, Lalala, and Tokkori had stayed. The explosions kept getting closer and the ground began to rumble. In order to hold them off for a bit longer while his friends could come up with a plan, Kirby summoned the warp star(this world’s) and tried to fend them off for the time being.

After getting hit by a missile and almost falling off the warp star, he noticed the amount of flying projectiles aimed at him was drastically declining. Then he saw something come out from under the castle rubble: The Halbert!

It was quiet while the Halbert ascended into the air, right into the middle of the spaceships. He looked on as the Halbert slowed and stopped, keeping a steady position in the air. One of it’s cannons turned and pointed at Kirby. he had only dodged the laser by an inch! They must not have seen him, he thought. The laser went right through the spaceship that was behind him, making it explode in the same spectacular fashion the one from yesterday had. Kirby cheered,

  
“Yeah! I knew the Halbert could do it!” he jumped in place on the warp star but was blown away by the force of the explosion. The warp star caught him though. 

  
“Thanks,” he exhaled. Kirby wondered whether the warp star can understand him like a lot of other mystical ancient technology from his own world. Maybe they could even talk to each other? The warp star took him to a hatch that opened on the Halbert, taking him inside. he found an elevator to the bridge and ran up to the others when the door opened, the warp star in his paw,

  
“This is great!” you say, “How did you get it in the air without a crew?” Kirby gave the warp star to Fumu, because she had pockets and Kirby doesn’t really wear clothes.

  
“Sergeant Cosmos reporting for duty,” a hairy orb said as he steps in front of Kirby. Behind him are a bunch of cappies! They decided to help after all! He doesn’t know the hairy guy with the hat, though. He looks at Fumu for some information about this guy.

  
“This is Sergeant Cosmos. He’s a star warrior like you and Meta Knight.”

  
“You told me about that before… They fought Nightmare in a war, right?”

  
“Yes, and we tragically lost,” Sergeant Cosmos says, “Which we will return to him tenfold today! Wait... Kirby can talk now?!” Fumu kept getting more annoyed with explaining the situation to everyone they meet, Kirby noticed.  
The ground on which everyone was standing began to shake. The spaceship started firing missiles again, this time targeting the Halbert.

  
“They’re coming at us from all sides,” Sword Knight exclaims.

  
“Then we will come at them all the same,” Meta Knight says, “Fire the main cannon.”  
The lasers went right through them all and each spaceship exploded around them creating a giant body of smoke through which the Halbert sped like in a tv show. Everyone around Kirby cheered and applauded.

  
“We can celebrate this victory, but this is just the beginning,” Meta Knight says. They really are going to that giant spaceship of Nightmare’s, huh? Kirby hopes beating him won’t be as dramatic this time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warp star/lor starccutter is my otp/j


	9. meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not sure how well i am at writing characters with trauma/ptsd.

They exit the wormhole into an area devoid of anything, only stars from other solar-systems in the distance. Fumu asks why.

The knights explain their plan to do a sneak attack, which is why they didn’t warp all the way over to eNeMeE’s base. Meta Knight tells everyone to head to their stations and prepare for battle. All the cappies go but, just as Fumu, Bun and Kirby are about to leave, an alarm goes off.

Suddenly an alert appears on the Halbert interface, showing a radar of some sort.

“Sir,” sword knight says, “Activity detected south of the ship. About less than 5000 miles away.”

“What?!” Meta Knight exclaims, “How could something get behind us? And so close at the same time?”

“I’m pulling up a visual,” Blade Knight says.

A screen pops up showing a light blue dot in the distance. It reminds Kirby of something…

“Nightmare must have found us. Open fire on the south cannons.” Meta Knight commands.

The dot begins gaining shape as it gets closer. It turns into a ship kind of shape. The kind with a mast and oars on the side, the kind piloted by a certain mischievous magician!

“Wait, don’t!” but the missiles had already left the Halbert.

“what is it, Kirby?” Meta Knight asks, “If we don’t act quick, they’ll attack first.”

Kirby watches the missiles land on the Lor Starcutter, barely making a dent.

“That’s my friend’s ship! They’re nice!”

“Your friend..?” Fumu asks.

“I’ve told you about Magolor, right? That’s his ship!”

“He came all the way out here to get you?”

“Yeah!” Kirby says proudly. He turns to Meta Knight, “Is there any way we can talk to him?”

A call window appears on the screen. Blade knight looks at Meta Knight for clearance,

“It looks like they were ahead of us.” Meta Knight nods and goes to stand on his captain spot to get into view of the camera. Blade Knight picks up and another window opens, showing an angry Magolor.

“What the hell was that?!” he yells.

“Magolor!!” Kirby jumps on one of the control panels. A voice off-screen says,

“Is that Kirby!?” King Dedede shoves his way into view. Magolor looks like he’s about to fly off the handle. “Hey pipsqueak! What in the world is happening? Why are you in Halbert 2.0?!” he seems to take note of everyone else on his screen, looking at Meta Knight in particular. His eyes bulb out, “Meta, you’re gonna want to see this.”

“What is it,” Meta Knight says, getting into view, shoving Dedede and Magolor even more. The screen starts getting cramped. Meta Knight sees his counterpart on the Halbert and stops in his tracks. Then walks back off screen, “I’m not doing this again,” he says drily.

“Hey, at least he doesn’t seem as bad as “Sir Meta Knight of love and justice”,” Dedede says.

Kirby looks at the Meta Knight next to him. He looks pretty caught off guard. Taranza walks into view and waves before other Kirby’s face takes up the whole screen by standing in front of the camera.

“Poyoyo!”

“Kirby!” Fumu yells.

“You’re blocking the camera, Kirby,” Bandee says before rolling other Kirby away from the camera.

“We should let them onto the ship,” Fumu says to Meta Knight, “They have our Kirby.”

“We shouldn’t be too quick to trust them. We don’t know how far eNeMeE’s knowledge reaches.”

Another alarm goes off when Meta Knight is about to finish his sentence. How many alarms does this Halbert even have? Blade Knight says it came from the kitchen. Meta Knight goes with everyone to see the problem while Blade and Sword Knight keep the town circus busy.

“I heard that,” Magolor says, “And Marx isn’t even here.”

When they get to the kitchen they find King Dedede and Escargon there with chef Kawasaki. Dedede appears to have burned his hands. They explain they want to help them and take eNeMeE down, but Meta Knight hears none of it,

“Do your duty, chief,” he says to chief Borun. Dedede and Escargon end up getting locked into one of the cells on the Halbert. When they get back to the bridge, Kirby started to explain to his friends, who were still on the screen,

“We’re in another parallel universe! There’s versions of people we know and people we don’t know. this universe’s Dedede is even worse than you used to be,” he says.

“Wow, is that even possible? How many times has this guy been a boss battle to Kirby?”

Meta Knight asks Kirby, “What is Dedede talking about?”

“Our Dedede tends to get into fights a lot. Only a few of those times was because wanted to, though! He gets possessed a lot.”

“Possessed..?

“One time by me!” Taranza says.

“Hah, yeah..” Dedede laughs uncomfortably behind him, looking down. A phone rings nearby and Blade Knight picks up

“There’s a monster on the engineering level! I need backup, pronto,” sergeant cosmos says through the phone. Sword knight puts up a map of the Engineering level on screen. A red dot is moving through the hallways.

“It’s moving fast!” he says.

“Why is there so much happening on your ship??” Magolor asks, “It’s been five minutes!”

“It’s headed for the engine room!” Meta Knight says, “ Sword, Blade get to the engine room before it arrives and make sure the monster doesn’t destroy it.”

“I’ll help!” Kirby jumps.

“Me too,” Fumu says.

Kirby ends up destroying the monster quickly with help of Kawasaki’s ice cubes, giving Kirby the ice ability. The monster turned out to be heavy lobster, which Kirby had fought before, so it was pretty easy. Meta Knights voice echoes through one of the speakers,

“Return to the bridge. I have found eNeMeE!”

*#*

“Nope. Nu-uh. Not getting near that.” Magolor says, shaking his head. They’re looking at a giant saucer shaped starship. It’s swarming with smaller (but still huge) battleships.

“What is that thing…?” Dedede Asks.

Meta Knight(the other one) says from his end of the call, “I have been told eNeMeE - or Nightmare has already been defeated in your world.”

“This.. it’s his…?” Meta knight steps back, looking at it in trepidation. He holds on to a wall to prevent himself from losing balance.

“We are about to head into their main base to defeat him. Are you our allies? Will you fight with us?”

“I-“ Meta Knight chokes on his breath. He wraps his cape around himself in an attempt to soothe himself. It doesn’t work.

Magolor answers, “Sorry buddy. I am not ever in my life taking the Lor into that warzone.

He hears Kirby explain to Meta Knight(other one) about the Lor star cutter, and how he wants to gain it’s trust so that it talks to him. Magolor’s ear twitches,

“Kirby you’re not supposed to tell that to just anyone!”

Dedede walks up to Meta Knight as Magolor squabbles with Kirby,

“You don’t have to come if it’s too much.”

“No. I can’t show any weakness, especially now that we’ve come this far. I can’t just stay back like a coward.”

“Hey, don’t say th-“

“Also, Maybe it will help if I see him die in front of me.”

Dedede is taken aback by that statement, but accepts it nonetheless. They all(except Magolor, someone has to stay on the Lor) agree to come with them on the Halbert.

They enter the Halbert through a hatch on the top. Magolor waves as the Lor Starcutter goes a distance away from all the disorder.

“Guys!!”

When they enter the bridge through the elevator, Kirby runs up to hug everyone, but before he could, Dedede bops him on the head with the side of his hand,

“What were you thinkin’, disappearing like that?”

“It’s not my fault! You’re way more of a suspect here.”

“He’s right, you know?” Meta Knight says lightheartedly, “If I hadn’t found out about this through you, I would have thought you were the cause again.” Traitor, Dedede thinks.

“Where’s Kirby?” Fumu asks them, “Our Kirby, that is.”

“Right here!” Taranza shows Kirby off in the air. He’s hanging by a leash, “I had to put him on a leash so he didn’t wander off again.”

“Fumu!” Kirby jumps out from Taranza’s hands and runs up to her, “Bayo!” Fumu laughs.

“Good to see you too, Kirby,” she says. smiling. She undoes the leash and gives Kirby a hug. Meta Knight makes eye contact with his counterpart and nods at him. Meta Knight nods back. Kirby wonders if they have any idea what they’re doing.

“Who else has doppelgangers here?” Bandee asks.

“A lot of people! But not you two..” Kirby says to Bandee and Taranza.

“Well then we should make introductions,” Taranza says, gesturing to himself, “My name is Taranza of Floralia, a land sited high above Dreamland.”

“I’m Bandee!” Bandee says, “Kirby, say “Bandana Dee”.”

“Yes!!” Bandee pumps a paw into the air. Kirby wonders what happened that made Bandee happy to hear his name. Kirby notices movement from the corner of his eye, he turns to see two heads appear in another doorway. It’s King Dedede and Escargon.

“How did you get out?” Fumu says with contempt.

“Should I throw them back into jail?” chief Borun asks.

“Hold on a second, we’re all on the same side here. we’re victims of eNeMeE too, you know?” Escargon notices the other Dedede, “what the..?”

“What in Dreamlands name…?! Why are there two Kirbies?! Who are you? How dare you impersonate the great King Dedede?!” Dedede yells as he walks up to the other Dedede.

The other Dedede Cringes, “Geez, you were right, Kirby…”

Escargon looks dumbfounded, “Two his highnesses..?” the other guy sure looks real. But.. “Where is the other Escargon?” he walks up to Dedede.

“We don’t have an escargon in our universe, I told you,” Kirby says.

“Your majesty, please don’t tell me..”

“Uhh… Sorry, snail. I don’t know you.”

On the other side of the group, Dedede is bothering Meta Knight,

“Why’re there two Meta Knights?! That’s twice the unloyal dope! When we’re back in dreamland I’m havin’ all’a you executed!”

“What a shitshow…” Meta Knight mumbles to himself, ignoring Dedede with all his might.

“We should think of a naming system now that there’s two of you all,” Taranza announces.

“We could have code names!” Bandee says, “I’m Eagle One..!”

“Bandee, there’s no one you could be confused for, so it would be kind of pointless,” Dedede says.

“Doesn’t matter. Address my by the name Eagle One or I will not respond.” Dedede laughs at that.

“Okay, eagle one. I’ll be Eagle Two, then. Meta Knight, you’re EdgeLord McBorb.”

Meta knight facepalms. “Please don’t, King Dedede..”

“And that’s an order from your king!” Dedede laughs. Meta Knight sighs, knowing he can’t go against his King’s orders like the lawful neutral he is.

“I’ll be..” Kirby thinks about a good recognizable nickname, “..Kabii!”

Kabii explains to Dedede and Escargon what the situation actually is. How they’re really from another world, that there’s really two real Dedede’s.

Dedede laughs, “you know what?! This is good! Now that there’s two of me, we’ll have an even bigger chance to crush eNeMeE!” he takes out his phone, “I’ll call him right now to tell him that we’re comin’ to kick his butt!”

“Wait, don’t-“ Meta Knight says. But Dedede has already called him,

“Can’t we talk it over?” customer service says after getting some insults thrown his way.

“It’s too late for that, ‘cuz now we just arrived at yer space fortress and we’re gonna make a sneak attack!” Eagle Two face palms, as does Meta Knight.

Taranza snatches the phone away and hangs up before anyone can give any more information away.

“Great. Now they know our plan.” Bun says.

“We must attack when they’re still preparing. Full speed ahead!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I *cannot* think of nicknames for the life of me


	10. Let's go together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's another thing you can look out for: because i used to write homestuck fanfiction on the occasion, i had gotten into the habit of writing in second person. i still find mistakes in here sometimes. man, this is like where's waldo.

They managed to infiltrate eNeMeE’s fortress after getting help from some “old friends”, as Fumu explained. Kabii did recognize knuckle joe, but not Sirica, or all those masked swordsmen. Meta Knight explained those were the star warriors that he and Kirby were part of.

When they were inside, there were no more attacks, which everyone found suspicious.

“Maybe they’ve given up?” Bun suggests.

“Look, there!” Fumu points to something manifesting in front of the Halbert. Everyone stills as they realize who it is.

“ENeMeE…” Meta Knight says.

“Tch, the bastard hasn’t aged well I see,” EgdeLord mutters. He wonders why the narrative addresses him like that in a situation so serious.

“It was a mistake to come here, Kirby,” eNeMeE says.

“Poyo..?” Kirby points to himself, then to Kabii.

“You won’t stand a chance,” eNeMeE laughs.

“Fire!” Meta Knight commands. Two missiles fly towards eNeMeE, but he opens his cloak and absorbs them like they weren’t even there.

Everyone but EdgeLord and Kabii gasp. EdgeLord McBorb silently asks to be called something else. The narrative refuses.

“What, you don’t know? Man you guys were unprepared,” Kabii says, “you’re supposed to hit him at his weak point.”

“Where is his weak point?”

“It’s right the…re…” he points to where a tornado, Nightmare’s weak point is supposed to be. Instead it’s just more emptyness under eNeMeE’s robe. “Uh-oh.”

Lasers on the walls start appearing and firing at them from all sides. Meta Knight commands his Knights to turn around the Halbert and flee, but the gates start closing as they near the exit.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Bun exclaims.

“We have to!” Fumu says.

They don’t make it. The gates close right in front of them. The Halbert has to turn around to avoid collision with the closed gate.

“Welp, the Halbert’s done for,” Eagle One says.

“Quick, take cover in the walls,” EdgeLord says.

…

Fine. Meta-Knight get’s the privilege of not having an absurd codename. Instead, the narrative will address him with Meta-Knight with a dash. Dedede and Kirby aren’t aware of this. Just so you know, Meta-Knight.

The Halbert heads to the walls of the fortress. it slows to a stop when it has proper cover in between two plates.

“Kirby, head on over there and open up that gate,” Dedede Says, “Doesn’t matter which Kirby.”

“They don’t have to do what you say, we’re not in dreamland anymore!” Fumu says.

“Yeah! Why don’t you guys go?” Bun says.

“No, he’s right,” Kabii says, “The Halbert is defenseless like this. Kirby, I’m going. Are you coming?”

“Poyo!” Kirby says with determination.

“Kirbies, wait! you don’t have to!” But they’ve already ran out the door.

“You can’t convince him to stay once he’s got his mind on something. Stubborn little brat…” Eagle Two says with pride.

They run to the nearest exit in order to get outside, but an explosion blasts them back. When the smoke lets up and the two Kirbies get their bearings, they see a big hole in the wall from the explosion.

“I guess we got a shortcut,” Kabii says, looking out the gap. He spots some flying projectiles heading right for them. They came from those guys riding some kind of ridable rockets. They remind Kabii of the time he had to ride those air riders. King Dedede(or Eagle Two now) had spend months designing the different machines for the big race.

Kirby inhales the projectiles and gets the bomb ability.

“Nice going, Kirby!” Kirby takes the compliment with pride. “Let’s hog some of those air riders!”

Kabii launches himself off the Halbert and inhales one of the air riders, landing on the rocket thingie it was riding. Not expecting any ability, he swallows.

Suddenly, he’s a missile!

“Oh, boy. I guess this is fine too.” Kirby pushes one of the air riders off and take over the vehicle. But, he’s never driven anything like this! Kirby wobbles and struggles to get balance. He’s gonna fall, Kabii thinks.

He catches the other puffball when he does, “Just hold on to me, okay?”

“Poyo..!”

They head for the other air riders, still shooting missiles at them. Kabii dodges the missiles while Kirby throws his bombs towards them and the cannons around them.

Kirby spots something moving along the walls, and points.

“What’s that..?”

They both gasp at the same time when they realize its Fumu, being held by Dedede and Escargoon. They’re standing on a platform that’s moving really fast. Meta-Knight is closely following them.

The two Kirbies nod at each other and follow behind as well. When Kirby looks back, he sees the remainder of Kabii's friends around the Halbert, frighting off the air riders swarming it. More air riders turn up next to the Kirbies. One of them donning a flame thrower.

“Whoa! That’s a fire hazard…” Kabii says as he narrowly dodges a jet of fire. Kirby inhales the fire and turns into fire Kirby.

“Oh! Good idea! You can use Burn and get to the platform!”

Kirby seems clueless about what Kabii just suggested.

“Heh… I guess you don’t know that move yet. I’ll teach you sometime! Blast those air riders!”

Kirby burns every air rider that was headed for them, not giving them a chance to attack.

“Gah! They just went into that big building over there!”

Meta-Knight goes towards them, flying parallel to them as he speaks, “They have the girl. I assume it’s to lure you into a trap. Do you want me to go inside?”

“Poyo!!” Kirby points up. They all land on a random balcony to look up. Nightmare is coming out of the top of the building, holding Fumu. He disappears into a hallway.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a trap. Let’s follow him,” Kabii says, taking off again.

They follow nightmare into the dark, long winding hallways into an entirely different part of the fortress. after countless turns, they end up in a place where the exit doesn’t even seem to exist. There’s a chessboard in front of them, in the middle of a game it seems. eNeMeE drops Fumu on the chess board and does an evil laugh. Kabii drops his missile ability and the two kirbies land on the chessboard to help Fumu up. Meta Knight lands a distance away, his wings turning back into his cape.

“This is checkmate, Kirby. The game is- why are there two of you?” he asks when he realizes he isn’t seeing double.

“You stand no chance against two Kirbies! They’re not afraid of you in the slightest, “ Fumu tells him.

“No matter. Before this match of over, all of you will feel the force of my power!” Kirby shoots a continuous jet of fire towards eNeMeE, which he easily absorbs in his cloak.

“What do we do, Kabii?” Fumu asks in desperation.

“I’m not so sure, Fumu. I don’t know how to beat this guy if he doesn’t have a tornado under his cloak I can hit.” Kabii says while Kirby attempts to shoot enough fire at eNeMeE to maybe cause a scratch. It doesn’t work and Kirby ends up exhausting himself. He falls back, dropping the fire ability.

“Kirby!” Fumu calls.

“He’s asleep,” Meta-Knight notes.

“Yes, great observation, Meta Knight,” EnEmEe says. Hearing his name in that voice makes his blood freeze. “He’s used up all his energy and is now completely defenseless. I could crush him without even trying!”

“We won’t let you!” Kabii goes to stand in front of Kirby. Meta-Knight draws his sword.

“Hah! Of course not! But you won’t have any power in my realm!”

A blinding light emerges from who-knows-where and everyone’s vision starts to twirl around itself. Its nauseating.

“Kirby! everyone!!” Fumu calls again.

Suddenly, they’re all in space. Fumu looks around. Kabii and Meta-Knight open their eyes. There’s a bunch of food floating around and, in the distance…it’s Kirby! Fumu calls out again,

“Kirby, over here!”

“Bluh… what was that?” Kabii says.

Kirby notices the three of them tries to float closer. His swimming motions don’t seem to help in a space devoid of any matter. EnEmEe’s laughter howls through their ears as he appears as well.

“Now that we’re in Kirby’s Dreams, I can crush you with just as much ease. And I get to have a little fun as well! It’s the cherry on the frosting,” he says.

“Poyo..!”

EnEmEe’s sends a rod of lightning towards an apple, which makes Kirby look like he’s about to throw up. EnEmEe laughs.

“What can we do?!” Kabii asks.

“Send the warp star!!” Fumu calls out of habit and desperation.

“You’re powerless in this world! There is no warp star to save the day,” EnEmEe laughs.

“Wait, do you still have it in your pocket?” Kabii asks Fumu.

“Ah, that’s right!” Fumu takes it out of her pocket and holds it up in the air. It shines brighter than any star in their vicinity. Probably because this one isn’t a manifestation from Kirby’s dream.

“Grr.. It doesn’t matter!! You’ll never defeat me with just a warp star!” EnEmEe says.

“Kirby, catch!” Fumu and Meta Knight says at the same time. Fumu throws the warp star towards Kirby while Meta-Knight throws something towards Kabii as well, which, when he catches it, turns out to be the star rod!

“I don’t know why you have this, but thanks!”

“What!?” EnEmEe utters, astounded.

Kirby, instead of catching the warp star, eats it whole.

“What..! Kirby, you glutton!” Fumu yells. But what she didn’t take into consideration was what copy ability It might give him!

“Look!” Meta-Knight points as Kirby begins a transformations sequence. Then, another star rod is held in Kirby’s hand.

“Two?!” EnEmEe shouts in horror. “I guess I won’t have much time to play. Let’s make this quick before you try anything you’ll regret.” He shoots a beam towards Kirby, who repels it with the star rod. EnEmEe tch’s.

“Ha! No you’re the powerless one!” Kabii shouts at him.

“Heh. I’m not the only one with a weak spot,” EnEmEe shoots another beam at Kabii, who avoids it with ease, but when his vision isn’t full of lightning beam, he notices that EnEmEe is about to shoot another lightning strike towards Fumu!

“Poyo!!”

Kirby flies in front of her to shield her from the blow, but in the frantic attempt to protect his friend, he forgets to protect himself with the star rod. The lightning hits him instead. Kirby lets out a wail of agony.

“Kirby!” Fumu yells. The star rod dissipates in his hand, turning back into the warp star, except it’s lightly green.

“Shit-“ Meta-Knight mutters. He cradles Kirby as Fumu reaches out as well,

“I’m sorry, Kirby! it’s all my fault,” she says, her voice breaking. Kabii sees the events happening in front of him. Meta-Knight nods at him. His eyes telling him, “I trust you can take care of this”. And he can. He turns to EnEmEe.

“He’s just a kid…” he says quietly, “Go pick on someone your own size.”

“Ha! Are you challenging me? This is my world! Even with the star rod, I still have the advantage.”

Kabii summons a warp star of his own, only slightly considering inhaling it himself to see what would happen, but deciding he can always find out after he serves this guy some justice.

While Kabii is busy kicking some hot butt, the other Kirby regains consciousness, still looking like a baked potato. Meta-Knight’s worried look is the first thing he sees.

“Medda…?” he drones. Meta-Knight lets out a relieved chuckle at seeing Kirby conscious. His Kirby used to call him that when they first met, he remembers.

“Kirby, are you okay?!” Fumu says.

“Fumu..!” Kirby jumps into Fumu’s arms, jolts of electricity still running through him, “Okay,” he repeats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can call it a literary trope or just me copying what the average climax scene looks like.


	11. anticlimactic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter holds true to its title

Apparently, EnEmEe was a lot more susceptible to the star rod than everyone thought. Just one hit managed disintegrate his entire body, shattering into stardust. The world around them started to fade back to the chessboard, except instead of a void without an exit, it’s just a dark room with a giant chessboard on the floor. Kirby was still asleep, though, not as burnt looking.

Kabii carried the sleeping Kirby and with him on one of those air ride machines he mugged from someone passing by while Meta Knight held Fumu as he flew next to him, heading back for the others and complete the mission to destroy the fortress.

He arrives at the place he remembers the Halbert to be and finds the little crowd at the side around the corner.

“Hey, why aren’t you on the ship?”

“What ship?” Taranza says. Eagle Two glares at the untimely reference.

“It got destroyed when some battleships managed to get inside,” Meta Knight explains.

“Way to keep up the tradition,” Eagle two says. Meta-Knight punches him in the arm.

“Oh, then we’ll just have to hijack another ship, right?”

“There’s not enough time for that, Eagle One and Cosmos planted a time bomb that’s supposed to blow the entire fortress to smithereens in a few minutes.”

“What!! How are we going to get home?!” just as Kabii asks it, a [funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ) tune plays in the distance.

“Ah, how embarrassing. Why did I use that as the Lor’s siren again?” Magolor says through the Lor’s speakers. Wait, The lor!

The Lor Starcutter appears around the corner and stops in front of them.

“Let’s go, everyone!”

“Wait, where is Kawasaki?” Meta Knight asks, looking around.

“He went to do a delivery, he said. To King Dedede.” Chief Borun says.

Meta Knight palms his face “We will have to go back for him.”

Everyone boards the Lor starcutter and it takes them towards the exit.

“Magolor! You came for us!” Kabii runs up to him.

“Of course! I’m your friend, after all. After I lost connection to the Halbert, I knew there had to be something hinky going on.”

“Aw, you care,” Taranza says.

“We still have a man deeper into the fortress. We can’t leave him behind.”

“Kawasaki isn’t here?!” Bun exclaims.

“The cook? You’re kidding! You can just use our Kawasaki.” Magolor says,

“Good to know where you stand about Dreamland’s inhabitants,” Eagle Two says.

“A time bomb has been planted at the core,” Meta Knight explains to Magolor, “We will have to be quick.”

“That’s all the more reason to just get the fuck outta here.”

Kirby pushes Magolor aside and tries to operate the Lor and get it to turn around.

“hey…!”

Kirby pushes a bunch of random buttons while trying to keep Magolor at a paw’s distance until he gives in.

“Alright, alright! I’ll go pick up that cretin…” Magolor steers the Lor around and follows Kabiis route to the big building they were last seen.

“What’s happening?! What is that thing?” Dedede asks once they get there. He walked outside onto one of the balconies where the lor had rolled to a stop. Escargon and Kawasaki behind him. In the room they came out of is a guy that looks like he’s about to hurl.

“This place is gonna blow and I’m here to generously take you away from the blast zone. So get the hell in if you want to live,” Magolor says through the intercom.

Within a few seconds of hearing ’place’ and ‘blow’ in the same sentence they had boarded the ship and entered the main deck. Dedede shakes Magolor in panic, “get us out of here then!!”

“I c-an’t do- anyth-ing-g if yo-u’re s-haking me-!”

Meta-Knight ended up steering the ship to safety so that Magolor could yell at Dedede the whole way home.

*#*

“So what are these “star warriors” you talk about?”

“That’s us!” a voice in the distance yells. Sir Arthur and the rest of the star warriors approach them, Sirica and Knuckle Joe following closely behind. They had all agreed to meet back at the same picnic spot from before the whole ordeal with EnEmEe, since there wasn’t really a dining room where they could celebrate together. Everyone was scattered on different cloths, talking amongst themselves. Meta Knight was sitting with Kabii and Meta-Knight on a red checkered picnic cloth when the star warriors appeared. He gets up when he sees them approaching, greeting them with a salute.

“We are all grateful for your help, sir Arthur, Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival. Please join us in… not exactly a feast, but a celebration nonetheless.”

One of the knights laughs, “You don’t have to be so formal anymore, Meta Knight,” he firmly takes Meta Knight’s and shakes it, “We missed you.”

Meta Knight stares at the knight, then to the other star warriors who look at him with just as much fondness. “I… I missed you all too,” he says.

“Say… why are there two of you?” another knight with a red ponytail asks.

“It’s a long story..” Kabii says.

Meta Knight introduces everyone to them as they join them in the giant picnic, scattering across the picnic cloths and meeting more of the allies that had helped take down EnEmEe.

Meta Knight stares at the sight of his friends being happy and alive, talking to old and new friends alike.

“Meta Knight…are you crying..?” Fumu asks as she walks up to them.

“Ah,” Meta Knight catches himself and quickly wipes away the single very manly tear that had made it’s way through his very manly tear ducts, “My apologies.”

“Say, Escargon,” Eagle Two says while King Dedede is distracted with bothering chef Kawasaki.

“Yes, your highness?”

“Just now.. You flinched when other me raised his hand to adjust his hat.” Escargon looks oblivious about where Eagle two is going with this, “Are you okay?”

“Well, of course! Just peachy. I didn’t think there’d be _more_ than one of the person I am most loyal to. I’m sorry, Your majesty, but I’ve been serving the other King Dedede for very long. I couldn’t take on another job under you.” Eagle Two laughs.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve got enough subordinates to worry about.” He glances at Dedede, who has moved on to pestering Kirby. “Just… be careful about him. I don’t believe he’s been treating you great.” Escargon scoffs,

“My king is the greatest of all of popstar. Not only is he generous, but he’s also-“

“Yeah, I get it. I’m him, remember?” Eagle Two says, putting a hand in front of Escargon’s mouth. He’ll drop the subject for now, but is sure to give his counterpart a lesson of how to treat his underlings right.

A distant “Hyaa!” from the two Kirbies learning fire ability moves can be heard as Taranza and Magolor chat with Sirica and Knuckle Joe

“So you’re one of those Star Warriors, huh?” Taranza says.

“Yup! We’re the new generation of the GSA” Knuckle Joe declares proudly. He makes a pose while Sirica shows off her gunblade.

“What’s that mean? Gay Super Arson?” Magolor asks. Taranza spits out the tea he was sipping.

“No.. it stands for Galaxy Soldier Army!” Sirica says.

“So you’re a child soldier?” Taranza chokes on his tea. He decides to continue drinking it later and puts down his mug.

“Hah, like your Kirby hasn’t fought any of your battles,”

“Oh, but he has. He’s fought all of us at least once.” Taranza says.

“That just makes him sound like the bad guy…” knuckle joe says, a metaphorical sweat droplet dripping from his head.

“Ah! I remember now,” Magolor says suddenly. He points to Knuckle Joe, “You’re the one Kirby inhaled when he got my left wing back!” Taranza thought the decision to put down the tea was a good one, but couldn’t help but let out a snort.

“So you also have a version of the Halbert on your world. That would explain why you knew of it before its reveal.”

“Yeah! We also have blade Knight and Sword Knight in our world! They’re part of the Meta-Knights!” Kabii explains.

“The Meta-Knights…?” Meta Knight recites.

“Only part-time. And Yes, that it what my crew is called. It consists of about two-hundred people, with a select number in my inner circle. They maintain the ship and assist me with missions.”

“What kind of missions?” Fumu asks

“Like trying to take over dreamland-“

 _“That was one time,”_ Meta-Knight whispered. He tried to cut Kabii off by putting a glove over his mouth, but he wasn’t fast enough.

“Is that so?” Meta Knight looks at his counterpart for clarification.

“Yes I- Kirby, did you lick my hand?” Kabii puffs up his cheeks in annoyance. Meta-Knight sighs and continues, “I was of the opinion that Dedede wasn’t fit to be a king. I hadn’t been on Popstar for long and wasn’t used to it’s…carefree lifestyle.”

“You told us we were all lazy,” Kabii comments, laughing.

“What withheld you from taking control, then?”

“Me!” Kabii says, raising a paw. Meta-Knight laughs, giving him a pat on the head,

“Yes, Kirby singlehandedly took down my battleship and prevented me from reaching the King’s castle in the first place. I’m sure it’s still at the bottom of Orange Ocean somewhere.”

“It’s still Kabii, Sir Edgelord. You’ll get us confused,” Kabii points out. Fumu laughs.

*#*

Everyone from this universe had gone back to the village to help rebuild the remaining parts. The heap of characters left spend a few hours brainstorming what could have made the dimensions-swap happen. Magolor concluded that the magic traces didn’t smell like EnEmEe at all, so that couldn’t be it. After those few hours, the adults gave up and they went to check up on the village. It seemed good as new when they arrived. The cappies are very efficient builders. Kirby(there was no need for codenames anymore) took them to Kawasaki’s, which still had a part of the building under construction. Kawasaki made an exception, though, and let them all in. Bandee rushed to one of the round tables in the corner,

“Dibs on the middle seat!” he said as he climbed onto a middle seat.

Needless to say, only the Kirbies and Dedede liked the food. Meta Knight just ordered a coffee, which he only finished as to not be rude. Magolor pushed the food from his plate onto Kirby’s which he gladly accepted.

###

After they said their goodbyes and returned to their own universe, Dedede invited the five of them to diner in Castle Dedede.

“You just had two meals, Dedede,” Meta Knight says.

“And you’re the only one that cares,” Dedede replies as Kirby runs past them to the dining room, slurring Bandee with him.

“Kirby, slow down! It’s like you’ve eaten some invisibility candy,” Bandee says. A couple of Waddle Dees walk after them with some dining carriages filled with plates of food.

“I guess that’s another parallel dimension to add to the list,” Dedede sighs, looking at Kirby barely being withheld from inhaling everything, “How many do we have now? 7? 8?”

“Only 5 counting our universe. But I’m sure there are many more to discover.” Meta Knight says as he walks through the door to the dining room.

“Hey, Meta?” Dedede says before Meta Knight enters the room completely.

“Hm?” he stops in his tracks and slightly turns his head.

“Did it help?”

A moment of silence.

“…Yes, I think it did. If only a bit.”

“King Dedede, Meta Knight!” Magolor calls out from across the hall.

“We’ve brought some of our own food as well,” Taranza says when they arrive before the door.

“Aw ya shouldn’t’ve,” Dedede says taking the plates and putting it on one of the carriages entering the room.

“Let’s sit, now that we’ve all arrived.”

“Fooooooooood!!!” Dedede shouts in unison with Kirby from inside the room, who overheard their conversation and took it as an okay to start devouring whatever was in front of him.

###

“A portal? That would probably be mine,” Suzy says absentmindedly.

“What..? All of that was your fault?!” Magolor shouts. The two of them were playing Mario Kart at Suzy’s. Magolor was telling her about the escapades their group went through while very much staying in eighth place as baby Luigi. Suzy was in second playing as Wario.

“I was experimenting with a magic-machine combination. I thought portal technology were a good place to start, since they’re something both techniques can accomplish. It kind of got out of hand, though. There were some reports to random portal-spawning-“ Suzy got hit by a red shell from bowser, “Drat, you damned lizard. Just as I got to first place as well.”

“I’m gonna tell Kirby next time I see him…”

“Also tell him give a message to Bowser next time he goes to another one of those Smash Bros. matches: “Go eat a wet sock, you slimy reptile.”” Suzy says as she throws a blue shell towards Bowser. She didn’t take her eyes off the screen for the entirety of the exchange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :o)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Rotation of Universes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27660122) by [GalacticNB](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticNB/pseuds/GalacticNB)




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